FTSE 100 holds small gains as Wall Street opens higher - Proactive Investors Australia

• FTSE 100 somewhat higher, up 16 points
• Chancellor to unveil revised vigor enactment package
• AstraZeneca to wage up to US$1.8bn for CinCor Pharma

3.01pm: Apple to motorboat VR headset - Bloomberg

Apple is poised to travel Mark Zuckerberg into the metaverse with the motorboat of a virtual world headset successful the coming months according to Bloomberg.

The iPhone shaper is expected to uncover a headset that tin plunge users into computer-generated worlds successful the outpouring the study said arsenic Apple looks for its adjacent large innovation aft the occurrence of the iPhone.

Apple's plans for a virtual world headset volition gully comparisons to Mr Zuckerberg's determination to rebrand Facebook arsenic Meta and put billions successful probe into alleged metaverse technologies.

Tim Cook, Apple's main executive, has antecedently poured scorn connected Mr Zuckerberg's metaverse concept.

2.42pm: US markets advance

US stocks opened higher connected Monday extending past week’s rally. Just aft the marketplace opened, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had added 162 points oregon 0.5% astatine 33,793 points, the S&P 500 was up 25 points oregon 0.6% astatine 3,920 points, and the Nasdaq Composite had gained 111 points oregon 1% astatine 10,5673 points.

In presumption of large movers, shares of meme banal Bed Bath & Beyond Inc roseate 17.2% without the institution posting immoderate news. The embattled retailer warned precocious that it could spell bankrupt.

Fellow retailers Macy’s Inc and Lululemon Athletica (NASDAQ:LULU) Inc fell 6.7% and 11.4% respectively aft some companies posted grim gross and nett warnings arsenic ostentation impacted vacation sales.

On the flip side, US-listed shares of Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) Holding Limited added 3.3% aft it was revealed that the laminitis of its affiliate institution Ant Group Jack Ma would beryllium stepping down amid a broader overhaul of the Chinese fintech company.

2.12pm: OIl terms jumps 

Brent crude futures roseate astir 3% connected Monday, rebounding further from a adjacent one-month debased of US$77.6/barrel touched past week, connected hopes for a betterment successful request from China and the imaginable of a little assertive monetary tightening from the Federal Reserve. 

Brent crude was trading 2.7% higher astatine US$80.728/barrel portion WTI prices were 2.77% higher astatine US$75.85/barrel.

The spike successful prices gave a assistance to BP PLC (LSE:BP.), up 1.4%, and Shell PLC (LSE:SHEL, NYSE:SHEL), up 1.8%.

1.40pm: Strong trading spices up Tortilla stock price

Shares successful Mexican edifice concatenation Tortilla Mexican Grill PLC (AIM:MEX) showed immoderate tasty returns for investors contiguous jumping 17% arsenic it revealed that income jumped by a 5th implicit the past twelvemonth contempt the interaction of bid strikes and mediocre weather.

The 82-strong concatenation reported a 20% summation successful revenues to £57.7mln implicit the 12 months to January 1, compared with the aforesaid play past year, boosted by the opening of 18 caller edifice sites, including successful Durham, Canterbury and Coventry.

Tortilla's maturation plans were besides buoyed by its takeover of smaller rival Chilango successful May past year.

1.25pm: BP adds artillery retention installation to star plans

BP said it plans to physique its archetypal star workplace with artillery retention connected a tract successful Tiln Farm, Retford, which volition thrust its plans to marque the exertion the norm globally.

Nick Boyle, the caput of vigor elephantine BP’s star associated venture, said helium believes artillery retention exertion volition beryllium wide included arsenic portion of star farms, helping to tackle the occupation of intermittent energy.

BP announced successful October it was gathering a star farm, its largest ever UK star project, successful Retford with operation of the 61MWp task opening successful November.

BP volition beryllium investing implicit £40mln into the project, which erstwhile implicit volition make capable vigor to powerfulness the equivalent of 14,230 UK homes.

12.45pm: Mortgage complaint symptom connected the way

More than 1.4mln households are facing the imaginable of involvement complaint rises erstwhile they renew their fixed-rate mortgages this year, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The ONS pointed retired that the bulk of fixed-rate mortgages successful the UK (57%) which are coming up for renewal successful 2023 were fixed astatine involvement rates beneath 2%.

Deals that are owed to mature successful 2024 see two-year fixed complaint deals from 2022 and five-year fixes from 2019, erstwhile owe rates were mostly higher than 2%, the study added.

Based connected information from the Bank of England, the ONS said a highest successful fixed deals ending is expected betwixt April and June this year.

The ONS said successful the archetypal 4th of this twelvemonth (Jan to Mar 2023), 353,000 fixed complaint mortgages volition person to beryllium renewed with a highest betwixt April and June of 371,000.

12.02pm: N Brown rises connected Allianz settlement

Shares successful the catalogue retailer, N Brown Group PLC (AIM:BWNG), soared implicit 10% aft reaching a colony successful a ineligible spat with Allianz Insurance Plc.

The group, which owns brands specified arsenic Simply Be and JD Williams (JDW), volition wage the insurer £49.5mln successful afloat and last colony which is beneath the £70mln claimed by Allianz.

The quality related to a assertion issued against JDW relating to important amounts of redress paid to customers by JDW and the Insurer successful respect of definite historical security products, including outgo extortion insurance.

 “The colony removes a important constituent of uncertainty and distraction for JDW and allows the institution to absorption connected creating shareholder worth done its halfway concern activities arsenic it continues its transformation” the institution said successful a statement.

 After paying the colony the radical said it would clasp a beardown unsecured nett currency presumption with worldly further liquidity facilities remaining undrawn.

11.48am: Further gains expected successful the US

Wall Street is expected to unfastened higher aft employment and different economical information connected Friday opened the mode for the Federal Reserve to easiness backmost connected involvement complaint hikes and arsenic traders look to latest ostentation information and the commencement of net play for further direction.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average roseate 0.3% successful Monday pre-market trading, portion those for the broader S&P 500 scale gained 0.4% and contracts for the Nasdaq-100 added 0.3%.

Non-farm payrolls information for December came successful up of expectations but wage maturation slowed to 4.6% year-over-year (y/y) from 5% a period earlier, indicating softening inflationary pressure.

Stocks ended the week successful the green, with the S&P 500 closing 2.8% higher astatine 3,895, the Nasdaq up 2.6% astatine 10.569 and the Dow rounding retired the battalion with a summation of 2.1% to adjacent astatine 33,631 points.

“If Friday’s terms enactment tells america thing it’s that investors truly privation to judge the highest ostentation communicative that has helped enactment the rebound successful equity markets that we’ve seen truthful acold this year,” said Michael Hewson, main marketplace expert astatine CMC Markets UK.

“The December payrolls study was astatine champion a goldilocks study with thing for everyone, bull and carnivore alike, with the wider question being arsenic to what it is really telling america astir the wider US economy.”

The affirmative quality continued with a services PMI which dipped into contractionary territory, lending further value to hopes of a brushed landing for the economy, with expectations for an involvement complaint emergence of 0.25% successful February present successful rod position, commented Richard Hunter, caput of markets astatine interactive investor.

“The user terms scale (CPI) fig owed connected Thursday present takes connected further significance, with forecasts suggesting a further slowdown successful some header and halfway ostentation numbers,” Hunter added.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics releases December’s ostentation information connected Thursday, with the CPI expected to person eased to astir 6.5% y/y from 7.1% successful November.

“This week besides marks the commencement of the net season, with proceedings being opened by the likes of Bank of America, Citigroup and JP Morgan,” Hunter continued. “The statement is that the banks volition person shown small to nary year-on-year maturation and, successful much wide terms, net are expected to person fallen crossed the committee successful the look of borderline compression resulting from the inflationary backdrop.”

11.24am: Potential lifeline for Britishvolt

News of a imaginable lifeline for troubled UK artillery start-up Britishvolt.

In a connection this greeting it said it is “in discussions with a consortium of investors concerning the imaginable bulk merchantability of the company”.

“The discussions purpose to unafraid legally binding presumption that would supply Britishvolt with the semipermanent sustainability and backing indispensable to alteration it to prosecute its existent plans to physique a beardown and viable artillery compartment R&D and manufacturing concern successful the UK” it said.

Battery start-up Britishvolt successful talks to merchantability bulk involvement https://t.co/itlYfje8b6

— Financial Times (@FT) January 9, 2023

The radical was adjacent to heading into medication past autumn aft it struggled to find investors to money a £3.8bn “gigafactory” successful Blyth, Northumberland, to physique electrical car batteries.

11.11am: Strong festive income astatine Lidl 

Discount supermarket Lidl has revealed its income jumped by astir a 4th implicit the cardinal vacation play arsenic it said it was buoyed by shoppers switching from rivals amid fund concerns.

The retailer said income roseate by 24.5% implicit the 4 weeks to Christmas Day, compared with the aforesaid play past year.

It added that it welcomed 1.3mln much customers to stores implicit the week anterior to Christmas compared with the erstwhile year.

This included the supermarket chain's "busiest-ever time of trading successful 28 years" connected Friday December 23 arsenic shoppers sought to bargain last-minute Christmas groceries.

Last week rival discounter Aldi recorded its highest-ever December income successful the United Kingdom, with income up 26% twelvemonth connected year, portion the UK’s 2 starring retailers Tesco PLC (LSE:TSCO) and J Sainsbury PLC (LSE:SBRY) are owed to springiness an update connected their trading implicit the festive play aboriginal this week.

10.52am: Eurozone unemployment holds steady

Unemployment successful the Eurozone held dependable astatine 6.5% successful November arsenic labour markets proceed to stay robust contempt slowing economical growth.

Economists astatine ING noted galore of the larger countries saw rates decline, specified arsenic France, Italy and Spain, nevertheless these were offset by ample increases successful Austria and Portugal.

It said “Overall, the resilient labour marketplace is simply a affirmative for Europeans who are already seeing incomes travel nether unit owed to precocious inflation. This dampens the antagonistic economical consequences of the ostentation shock.”

But it said “with a labour marketplace this tight, it is improbable that unemployment volition tally up capable to marque labour shortages a happening of the past.”

“That makes this a cardinal hazard for the ECB astatine the moment” ING commented.

“While determination is nary grounds of a wage-price spiral truthful far, the ECB has taken a hawkish crook and volition stay disquieted astir wage maturation rising further anyway” ING said.

9.56am: Citi upgrades BT

Shares successful BT Group PLC (LSE:BT.A) dialled higher arsenic the FTSE 100 listed telco was upgraded by Citi today.

The broker enactment the banal backmost connected its bargain database with a 160p terms target.

It accepted BT is facing headwinds to escaped currency travel procreation that travel from grounds levels of investments, rising taxes and involvement costs, arsenic good arsenic labour and vigor which it said would usually render immoderate telco unattractive hence wherefore the banal was truthful anemic successful the 2nd fractional of 2022.

But BT has immoderate things that could determination successful its favour, Citi suggested, arsenic wholesale pricing moves higher portion retail prices could spot a important determination not conscionable connected the back-book but besides connected the front-book arsenic ISP margins get squeezed.

Shares were marked 0.8% higher successful aboriginal trading.

9.44am: Chancellor to unveil revised vigor enactment package

The chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, is expected to denote a simplification successful the vigor enactment bundle for concern today.

The caller measures to assistance UK firms header with soaring vigor bills are acceptable to be

announced to MPs today, up of the expiry of the contiguous enactment bundle astatine the extremity of March.

Since the commencement of October, the portion outgo of energy and state for non-domestic customers has been capped to assistance them done the wintertime – which is expected to person outgo implicit £18bn by the extremity of March.

But chancellor Jeremy Hunt warned UK businesses past week that the existent level of vigor measure enactment for firms is “unsustainably expensive” – a hint that enactment will be chopped from April.

The Sun’s Natasha Clark reported Hunt volition uncover different £5bn of vigor assistance for businesses nether the caller measures but suggested immoderate businesses volition spot enactment autumn by 60% from the existent levels.

— Natasha Clark (@NatashaC) January 9, 2023

She said determination would beryllium much enactment for vigor intensive industries.

9.00am: Chinese reopening continues to enactment FTSE

FTSE 100 extended its gains, hitting a 4 and a fractional twelvemonth high, as the reopening successful China combined with Friday’s autumn successful mean net figures successful the US continued to enactment request for equities.

At 9.00am London’s flagship scale was up 17 points 7,716 portion the upbeat temper extended to the broader FTSE 250 which jumped 97 points to 19,601.

Neil Wilson astatine markets.com noted “China reopening its borders afloat arsenic good arsenic slowing wage maturation and a diminution successful work assemblage successful the US person fuelled a affirmative archetypal week of the twelvemonth for equity markets, which saw shares successful London deed their highest level successful 4 years.”

But helium added a enactment of caution “whilst China is good positioned present - and earlier than expected - to thrust planetary growth, the outlook connected ostentation and the Federal Reserve’s absorption relation stay uncertain.”

“But we should not place the accelerated reopening of China going forward, which I would expect to beryllium much affirmative for UK and European indices vs US peers” helium added.

Hopes that the reopening successful China would boost economical maturation were reflected successful the FTSE 100 risers with mining stocks Antofagasta plc, Glencore PLC (LSE:GLEN) and Anglo American portion Asian focused stocks specified arsenic Prudential PLC (LSE:PRU) were besides successful demand.

A emergence successful the lipid terms gave a boost to scale heavyweights, BP PLC (LSE:BP.) and Shell PLC (LSE:SHEL, NYSE:SHEL) portion Experian (LSE:EXPN) PLC roseate 0.6% arsenic JP Morgan reiterated an overweight standing viewing the institution “as a halfway holding successful our assemblage for investors with semipermanent horizons.”

Elsewhere BT precocious 2% arsenic Citigroup lifted its presumption of the telecommunications institution to bargain from neutral but FTSE 250 listed Keller Group was marked 5% little aft informing that fraud successful its Australian concern would dent operating profits.

8.29am: Australian fraud to dent Keller profits

Keller Group PLC (LSE:KLR) has fallen 5% successful aboriginal exchanges aft identifying fraud successful its successful its Austral Business Unit successful Australia which is estimated to deed operating profits by astir £6mln successful the archetypal fractional of 2022, and £8mln to £10mln relating to anterior years.

Two individuals person been dismissed the geotechnical specializer contractor said.

Overall, the FTSE 250-listed institution said show successful the 2nd fractional has been beardown meaning it expects afloat twelvemonth operating profits somewhat beneath the bottommost extremity of the scope of marketplace expectations.

Expectations for 2023 and beyond stay unchanged, it added.

Peel Hunt noted the fraud was spotted by the group's interior systems and looks to beryllium based astir overstatement of gross and profit.

As a effect it has chopped its fiscal twelvemonth 2022 pre-tax nett forecast from £101mln to £95mln  and chopped EPS by 6% to c.104p.

But it kept its bargain standing noting “excluding the fraud, the radical indicated that trading has been beauteous robust.”

8.10am: FTSE pushes higher again

FTSE 100 made dependable aboriginal advancement astatine the unfastened connected Monday continuing its bullish way truthful acold successful 2023.

At 8.10am the FTSE 100 was up 9 points astatine 7,708 portion the FTSE 250 jumped 63 points to 19,567.

AstraZeneca PLC (LSE:AZN) was successful absorption arsenic it said it volition wage up to US$1.8bn to get hypertension and chronic kidney illness therapies developer CinCor Pharma.

The woody gives the pharma elephantine planetary rights to the baxdrostat precocious humor unit treatment.

The Cambridge-based radical volition bargain outstanding CinCor shares for US$26, positive a imaginable other US$10 each depending connected regulatory submission of a baxdrostat product.

Under the woody the FTSE 100 listed radical volition wage US$1.3bn upfront, much than doubly CinCor's US$515.5mln marketplace capitalisation with the information rising to US$1.8bn if imaginable contingent worth payments are made.

Another woody confirmed contiguous was Vodafone Group PLC (LSE:VOD)'’s €1.7bn merchantability of its Hungarian business, archetypal announced successful August. Shares slipped 0.6%.

But AIM-listed Frontier Developments PLC (AIM:FDEV) slumped 41% arsenic it warned little than expected income from F1 Manager 2022, mediocre income crossed the full portfolio during the vacation period, and the uncertain publication from Foundry successful the remainder of the fiscal twelvemonth 2023 meant it lo longer expects to execute marketplace statement forecasts for gross and IFRS operating profit.

On gross the radical inactive hopes to scope past year’s level of £114mln compared to statement forecasts of £135mln but it could lone pledge to present “revenue of not little than £100 cardinal successful FY23.”

Operating profits of astir £10mln are expected astir fractional of the existent statement for £19mln.

In reaction, Liberum downgraded the institution to clasp from bargain and much than halved its terms people to 1,000p from 2,110p.

7.42am: Airtel prepares for maturation successful Nigeria

Another woody to the commencement the week arsenic Airtel Africa has announced it has bought 100 MHz of spectrum successful the 3500MHz set and 2x5MHz of 2600MHz from the Nigerian Communications Commission (for a US$316.7mln.

The telecoms radical which operates successful 14 countries crossed Africa said this further spectrum volition enactment investments successful web expansion, including 5G rollout, providing important capableness to accommodate the continued beardown information maturation successful Nigeria.

Airtel Nigeria is Airtel Africa's largest market, with important maturation potential, the institution said successful a statement.

7.30am: Vodafone to nett €1.7bn from Hungaruan sale

Vodafone Group PLC (LSE:VOD) volition person €1.7bn from the merchantability of its Hungarian arm, Vodafone Magyarország Zrt, to 4iG Public Limited Company and Corvinus Zrt, a a Hungarian authorities holding company.

The FTSE 100 listed telco confirmed contiguous it has entered into binding presumption successful narration to the merchantability which was archetypal announced successful August 2022.

The terms agreed represents a aggregate of 8.4x adjusted EBITDAaL for the 12-month play ended 31 March 2022 with proceeds to beryllium utilized for deleveraging.

Margherita Della Valle, Vodafone Group's interim main enforcement said: "This operation establishes a scaled converged relation crossed mobile and fixed communications and supports the Hungarian government's extremity of creating a nationalist Information and Communications Technology champion.”

“The combined entity volition summation contention and accelerate concern successful the ongoing digitalisation of Hungary."

Completion of the woody is expected this month.

7.00am: Bright commencement to 2023 acceptable to continue

The FTSE 100 is acceptable to proceed its winning streak astatine the unfastened connected Monday boosted by beardown gains successful the US connected Friday and hopes that the reopening successful China volition springiness a boost to planetary economical growth.

Spread betting companies are calling the pb scale up by astir 22 points.

At Friday's close, US stocks were firmly successful the green, with the S&P 500 closing 2.8% higher astatine 3,895, the Nasdaq up 2.6% astatine 10.569 and the Dow rounding retired the battalion with a summation of 2.1% to adjacent astatine 33,631 points.

This came arsenic investors took bosom from stronger-than-expected non-farm payrolls figures which were accompanied by weaker than expected maturation successful mean earnings.

As Michael Hewson main marketplace expert astatine CMC Markets UK pointed retired “The December payrolls study was astatine champion a goldilocks study with thing for everyone, bull and carnivore alike, with the wider question being arsenic to what it is really telling america astir the wider US economy.”

“Markets latched onto the astonishment diminution successful mean hourly net which roseate by 4.6% successful December, good beneath expectations, portion the November numbers were revised down from 5.1% to 4.8%, playing down concerns astir upward unit connected wages.”

“in the aftermath of Friday’s US jobs study and the beardown absorption to it, today's European unfastened looks acceptable to beryllium a affirmative one, with Asia markets besides getting a boost arsenic China took further steps to reopen its economy, arsenic it relaxed its zero-Covid argumentation further resuming question with Hong Kong” helium added.

Asian equity markets were rising connected Monday. The Shanghai Composite scale was 0.7% higher connected Monday afternoon. The Hang Seng successful Hong Kong was up 1.8%. The S&P/ASX 200 successful Sydney closed up 0.6%. Financial markets successful Tokyo are closed for Old Age Day.

Back successful London and the firm diary looks reasonably quiescent with trading updates expected from Cairn Homes plc (LSE:CRN) and (Intermediate Capital Group (LSE:ICP)) PLC.