The UK equity markets ended Thursday’s trading session in negative territory despite a series of positive trading updates from Barclays (BARC), Unilever (ULVR), and Relx (RELX). American equity markets provided little encouragement despite initial jobless claims dipping to a new pandemic low. According to official data just 290,000 individuals filed claims for unemployment insurance. This ...

A rising list of economic worries kept investor sentiment firmly negative at Thursday lunchtime, while weakness in industrial commodities dragged down UK mining shares. At 12pm the benchmark FTSE 100 index, was 0.5% lower at 7,185 despite positive trading updates from Unilever (ULVR), and Relx (RELX). COMPANY NEWS Anglo American (AAL) lost 4.6% at £27.07 despite reporting a 2% rise in ...

Shares in consumer goods giant Unilever (ULVR) jumped to the top of the FTSE leader board with a gain of 3% to £39.41 after third quarter revenues beat analysts’ forecasts and the firm kept its full year outlook. Group turnover for the three months to September was €13.5 billion against €12.9 billion last year, helped by underlying growth of 2.5% compared with estimates of a ...

Shares in Vivo Energy (VVO) rallied 2.9% to 106p on Thursday after the Africa-focused fuel distributor reported encouraging third quarter volume growth supported by improving mobility trends. And with its site rollout continuing at pace, the FTSE 250 company also fuelled investor enthusiasm by raising guidance for net new sites for both this year and next. RETAIL FUELS ANOTHER STRONG QUARTER ...

Shares in global provider of information-based analytics and decision tools RELX (RELX) hit a new all-time high, gaining 2% to £22.58 after the company said it expected full-year revenue and underlying operating profit growth to be above historical trends. The company noted that underlying revenues grew 6% in the first nine months to 30 September, spearheaded by double-digit growth in the risk ...

Third quarter (Q3) figures from Barclays (BARC) failed to capture the imagination of investors on Thursday despite record profits of £6.9 billion. The better-than-expected results for the three months to 30 September 2021 also set new records for earnings and returns on tangible equity, yet some market watchers were left disappointed by the absence of news on the bank’s dividend policy and ...

Leading UK stocks were pulled down by mining and bank stocks in early trade on Thursday, while Unilever (ULVR), which supplies all sorts of everyday goods we all use, like butter and tea, warned that inflation pressure could last far longer than many anticipate. The consumer brands firm saw its share price rise nearly 2% to £38.905 early on as its third quarter numbers proved to be ...

UK stocks eked out small but unconvincing gains on Wednesday as investors weighed the impact of rising Covid-19 cases and the threat of an interest rate rise against ongoing economic recovery. Despite UK consumer prices for September climbing less than expected inflation remains well above the Bank of England’s 2% target rate. At the close the FTSE index of leading shares was 5 points ...

UK bank stocks were unmoved by headlines in the Financial Times that Chancellor Rishi Sunak, will use next week’s budget to announce his intention to reduce the UK bank corporation tax surcharge from 8% to 3% from April 2023. Shares in Lloyds (LLOY), NatWest (NWG), HSBC (HSBA), and Barclays (BARC), all drifted marginally lower in line with the FTSE 100 index. This is not a complete surprise ...

Leading UK stocks were trading largely flat in early afternoon  on Wednesday after Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng ruled out a fresh lockdown amid fears over rising Covid-19 infections. UK consumer prices for September climbed 3.1% against expectations of a 3.2% rise, briefly easing fears of an early rate rise, although inflation remains well above the Bank of England’s 2% target ...