London open: Stocks higher on trade optimism
By Alexander Bueso
Date: Friday 02 May 2025
(Sharecast News) - Stocks are moving higher after Beijing opened the door to trade talks with Washington and Brussels offered to increase its purchases of US goods.
As of 0806 GMT, the FTSE 100 was adding 72.33 points or 0.84% to 8,568.51, whilst the S&P mini futures contract was up by 24.50 points at 5,649.50.
China's Commerce Ministry issued a statement overnight highlighting what it said were repeated expressions of a willingness to negotiate on the part of US officials.
"This news broke at 01:20am London time and hence the lack of denial by Washington could mean this development may be a credible sign of some thawing in the stand-off on commencing talks," MUFG analyst Derek Halpenny said.
Halpenny also noted the interview with Maros Sefcovic published by the FT, in which the EU trade commissioner said that the bloc was offering to up its purchases of US goods by $50bn in order to address the trade imbalance.
Sefcovic also said that "certain progress" had been made.
On a dourer note, the BBC reported on a FOX News interview, this time with US vice-president JD Vance, who said that the war in Ukraine was not going to end "any time soon".
Against that backdrop, at 1230 GMT the US Department of Labor would release its non-farm payrolls report for the month of April (consensus: 138,000), which could conceivably set the tone for trading in financial markets during the month of May.
On the other side of the Channel, S&P Global announced that its euro area manufacturing sector Purchasing Managers' Index improved printed at 49.0 for the month of April, which was better than the 48.6 recorded in March.
A preliminary reading for euro area consumer prices in April would follow an hour later.
Dragging on US futures in the New York pre-open was the negative reaction to the latest results out overnight from Amazon and Apple.
Worth noting, the latter said that most of its devices being shipped to the US would now come from India and Vietnam.
Shell approves 13th consecutive quarterly share buyback programme of over $3bn
Shell posted better-than-expected first quarter adjusted earnings and launched a fresh $3.5bn share buyback programme. The oil major's adjusted profit reached $5.58bn (consensus: $4.96bn) on $69.23bn of revenues, for earnings per share of 92 US cents. Cash flow from operations came in at $9.28bn (consensus: $9.6bn). Net debt at period end stood at $41.52bn. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of 35.8 US cents.
Asia-focused bank Standard Chartered reported better-than-expected first-quarter profit, driven by strong growth in its wealth management, but also warned of the impact of US President Donald Trump's trade war. Pre-tax profit for the three months to March came in at $2.10bn, up from $1.91bn and the $1.905bn consensus average. "Imposition of trade tariffs has increased global economic and geopolitical complexity, and we remain watchful of the external environment," said chief executive Bill Winters.
Pearson reported a 1% increase in underlying first-quarter group sales on Friday, and confirmed it was on track to meet its full-year guidance, with stronger growth anticipated in the second half. The FTSE 100 education publisher said all business units performed in line with expectations, including a 6% rise in higher education sales. It also said that it was advancing its strategic goals through product innovation, contract wins, a brand relaunch, and the launch of a £350m share buyback programme.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 8,570.93 0.87%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,163.62 0.14%
techMARK (TASX) 4,647.73 0.43%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Shell (SHEL) 2,518.50p 3.37%
Haleon (HLN) 400.60p 3.06%
Melrose Industries (MRO) 444.90p 2.35%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,712.00p 2.24%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 4,528.00p 2.21%
Glencore (GLEN) 249.70p 2.13%
Babcock International Group (BAB) 827.00p 2.10%
NATWEST GROUP (NWG) 485.30p 2.00%
Anglo American (AAL) 2,137.50p 1.93%
Mondi (MNDI) 1,150.50p 1.68%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Pearson (PSON) 1,138.00p -3.11%
Whitbread (WTB) 2,697.00p -1.68%
SSE (SSE) 1,680.50p -1.55%
Smurfit Westrock (DI) (SWR) 3,087.00p -1.50%
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 78.62p -1.43%
Kingfisher (KGF) 287.90p -1.37%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 376.10p -1.21%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 1,120.50p -1.02%
Severn Trent (SVT) 2,754.00p -0.94%
St James's Place (STJ) 993.80p -0.92%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 82.00p 13.89%
IP Group (IPO) 45.75p 6.27%
SSP Group (SSPG) 159.70p 5.97%
Petershill Partners (PHLL) 226.00p 4.63%
Harbour Energy (HBR) 158.00p 3.34%
Fidelity China Special Situations (FCSS) 244.50p 2.73%
Clarkson (CKN) 3,070.00p 2.50%
Senior (SNR) 140.60p 2.18%
XPS Pensions Group (XPS) 391.00p 2.09%
BlackRock Smaller Companies Trust (BRSC) 1,288.00p 1.90%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Watches of Switzerland Group (WOSG) 343.20p -4.35%
International Distribution Services (IDS) 359.60p -2.12%
Spectris (SXS) 2,050.00p -1.54%
Greggs (GRG) 1,801.00p -1.53%
Dunelm Group (DNLM) 1,112.00p -1.51%
Vistry Group (VTY) 644.60p -1.35%
Rotork (ROR) 301.20p -1.25%
Indivior (INDV) 873.50p -1.24%
Sirius Real Estate Ltd. (SRE) 94.70p -1.15%
Serco Group (SRP) 174.60p -1.13%
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