The FTSE 100 (^FTSE) was almost flat and major European markets were in the green by the close on Friday, as European Central Bank president Christina Lagarde laid out the bloc’s stance on interest rates.
The DAX (^GDAXI) in Germany rose 0.2% and Paris’s CAC (^FCHI) was also up 0.2%. Meanwhile the FTSE pulled back from losses earlier in the session.
The moves in Europe came following comments from Lagarde that the bloc is entering a ‘wait and see’ phase in terms of changes to its bank rate. Despite this, she said the battle against inflation isn’t over.
US stock indexes were also muted as markets prepare for a shorter day of trade i following the Thanksgiving holiday with the S&P 500 (^GSPC) flat, the Dow (^DJI) up 0.3% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq (^IXIC) down 0.2%.
The moves come amid annual Black Friday sales and fresh data showing that UK consumer confidence ticked upwards in November, according to a monthly GfK report.
The report indicates that people’s personal financial situation is improving.
“Recent ups and downs in confidence have underlined the nation’s topsy-turvy economic mood as encouraging news about falling inflation and wage growth is offset by high personal taxation, alongside costly fuel and energy bills,” said Joe Staton, client strategy director at GfK.
Read more: Jeremy Hunt announces alcohol tax freeze ahead of Christmas party season
“The dramatic 10-point jump in our major purchase sub-measure, reversing some of the worrying 14-point drop we saw last month, will be good news for retailers looking to benefit from Black Friday and Christmas,” he added.
Follow along for live updates:
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That’s me done for the day! Thanks. Have a good weekend!
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More trouble for Entain, today:
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And updates on inflation from Europe:
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The Telegraph has news of the HSBC banking app being down:
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Here we have Yahoo Finance UK’s own Pedro Goncalves on today’s trending tickers: Novo Nordisk, Walmart, Barclays and Foot Locker are in the spotlight today.
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Pound rising
Sterling was up about 0.25% on the dollar as of 11.15 to trade at around $1.25. The dollar is pulling back amid a quiet time for markets in the US over the Thanksgiving holiday. There is also weakness in the dollar due to uncertainty around interest rates.
The pound is also up about 0.2% against the euro today, to trade at around 1.15EUR.
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Nissan leads UK £2bn electric vehicle punt
Nissan has said it will join partners in channelling up to £2bn into three electric car models at its Sunderland factory, in a scheme that could keep the jobs of 6,000 workers and thousands more in the UK.
The firm is set to produce electric Qashqai and Juke models at the plant alongside the next generation of the electric Leaf. This will also mean the production of a gigafactory – a major new battery plant.
Nissan will spend £1.12bn on preparing its UK facilities and supply chain for the new models and training its workforce. The investment could be £2bn overall, it added.
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What’s up with oil prices?
Here’s Finalto’s Neil Wilson on what’s happened with OPEC and production decisions so far:
A number of OPEC+ members agreed in April to cuts of 1.66m bpd. This had limited impact so the Saudis added the lollipop – a 1m bpd unilateral cut starting in July through the end of 2023. This came in tandem with Russia saying it would cut exports by 300k bpd from August through the end of 2023. This was in addition to an existing pledge to cut 500k bpd all the way to the end of 2024. The Saudis are now producing about 9m bpd and could maybe go to 8.5m bpd if they can take other members with them. There are various permutations for extending or deepening cuts but wrangling over baseline quotas needs to be squared away first.
So what’s happening now?
OPEC is in a tough place and baseline negotiations can take time – in 2021 it took two weeks to break the deadlock. But it’s tougher now and discord leads to volatility in prices, as we have seen in the last couple of days. Options markets went crazy- put options for Brent hit 211k on Wednesday, a record high. Talk of an extra 1m bpd worth of cuts being on the table has done the rounds – less a 1973 embargo and more a signal to Israel and the US about what’s going on in the Middle East; GCC members have shown unusual unity. Prices are down around 15% from the September peak and hit a 4-month low this week as the meeting was postponed, though have recovered some ground since the initial spike lower. There is a low bar for disappointment this time and this meeting may reflect the harsh reality for OPEC and its allies: output (and prices) may be lower for longer.
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Gambling stocks fall as regulator suggests as many as 1.3 million Britons suffer from a problem
Stocks in major gambling companies were among the biggest fallers in the FTSE 100 on Friday as the UK’s regulator for the sector said problem gambling may be more than eight times higher than previously thought.
The new figures — which are based on better data than previously collected — suggest that as many as 2.5% of the adult British population may be suffering from problem gambling. That’s up from an estimation of 0.3% made previously.
Flutter, which owns brands such as Paddy Power and Betfair was down 1.6% in early trade while Entain, owner of Ladbrokes, fell 1.1%.
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Overnight in Asia
There was a mixed day in Asian equities overnight, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng (^HSI) pulling back nearly 2%, the SSE Composite (000001.SS) falling 0.7% and the Nikkei (^N225) up 0.5%.
The Hang Seng was weighed down by selling in tech stocks as sentiment soured, but despite the losses it still clung on to weekly gains.
Despite the selling on Friday, Asian stocks have been bouyed by optimism from easing geopolitical tensions between the US and China and support measures for China’s housing sector.
Watch: UK Latest: Hunt Rolls Out Personal, Business Tax Cuts
