Closing post
Time to recap.
Amazon is leading the charge in the US stock market today, with its shares surging by about 11% after its third quarter earnings beat expectations last night.
The tech giant reported a 20% surge in sales at its cloud computing division, Amazon Web Services, to $33bn thanks to demand for computing power for artificial intelligence.
In the UK, the tinned tuna maker Princes Group has kicked off a float with a valuation of nearly £1.2bn in a boost for the London stock market.
The debut of the shares in the almost 150-year-old company, which is best known for its Princes tinned tuna and Napolina tinned tomatoes, olive oil and pasta, marks a rare bright spot in the UK’s lacklustre market for flotations.
The stock launched at the bottom end of a £1.16bn to £1.24bn target range set out last week and fell 1% in early trading today.
Meanwhile, analysts at some major banks have said that the market is underestimating the likelihood that the Bank of England will cut interest rates next week.
Jack Meaning, UK chief economist at Barclays, now expects the monetary policy committee (MPC) will vote 5-4 for a interest rate cut by 0.25 percentage points to 3.75% on Thursday. He wrote in a note:
Back in September, the committee was weighing up the balance of risks on both sides of its inflation outlook. We think the data since then, as well as signals of future fiscal policy changes, will have shifted that balance, leaving the committee more confident that disinflation is underway.”
Amazon shares surge 11% on back of earnings
Shares in Amazon are up about 11% now the market is open in the US, after its third quarter earnings beat expectations last night.
The tech giant reported a 20% surge in sales at its cloud computing division, Amazon Web Services, to $33bn thanks to demand for computing power for artificial intelligence.
Chief executive Andy Jassy said AWS is now growing at a pace not seen since 2022. He said:
We continue to see strong demand in AI and core infrastructure, and we’ve been focused on accelerating capacity.”
The blue chip S&P 500 index is up 0.4%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq index is up 1%.
