Early Morning Call: FTSE 100 opens higher as Lloyds beats expectations in Q1
Lloyds Banking Group beat profit expectations for the first quarter, with a pretax profit of £2.3 billion, above the £1.95 billion average of analyst forecasts compiled by the bank.
Equity market overview
Asia-Pacific equity markets fell overnight.
Tech stocks weighed on the Hang Seng and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 for a second day. The Nikkei was closed as Japan celebrated Constitution Day.
Fed on rates
Tonight, the Federal Funds Rates are expected to rise by 25-basis points (bp) to a target range of 5%-5.25%. Stubborn inflation remains the single biggest risk to long-term economic problems. This remains the priority over a recession which is the short-term pain that has to be endured.
Before the conclusion of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, the market awaits latest ADP employment change data and ISM services PMI.
Earnings
Elsewhere on the equity market, Lloyds Banking Group beat profit expectations for the first quarter (Q1), with a pretax profit of £2.3 billion, above the £1.95 billion average of analyst forecasts compiled by the bank. Net income rose 15% to £4.7bn.
In France, BNP Paribas' profit more than doubled in the first quarter compared to a year ago, after the sale of its US division. The sale of Bank of the West yielded about €2.95Bln in capital gains, lifted the bank's net income to €4.44Bln, in line with expectations.
Deutsche Lufthansa expects strong demand for holiday travel this summer and sees significant year-on-year (YoY) improvement in adjusted EBIT for the full-year. The German airline group posted an adjusted quarterly EBIT loss of €273 million, after a €577Mln loss in the previous period. Analysts’ consensus was €-279Mln. Revenues jumped 40% to €7.02Bln, falling short of consensus for €7.57Bln.
Ryanair said traffic increased by 13% in April to 16 million customers. Load factor rose by three percentage points to 94%.
In the US, Ford Motor fell in extended trading last night after being cautious in its outlook. Ford confirmed its full-year guidance but cautioned that "higher industrywide customer incentives as vehicle supply-and-demand rebalances" will be a "headwind" for profitability. T
he carmaker posted better-than-expected earnings for the first quarter. Adjusted diluted earnings per share (EPS) were 62 cents, compared with 38 cents a year ago. Analysts had expected 40 cents. Revenue also beat expectations.
Advanced Micro Devices fell 6.2% last night after its sales guidance missed market expectations. The chipmaker posted earnings of 60 cents per share on revenue of $5.40Bln, both lines beating estimates. But AMD missed analysts' estimates for PC and data centre chips sales for the first quarter.
AMD CEO Lisa Su told investors that the first quarter was the bottom of the market for the company's PC business and the industry, and remained confident in the group's ability to grow in the second half of the year.
This information has been prepared by IG, a trading name of IG Markets Limited. In addition to the disclaimer below, the material on this page does not contain a record of our trading prices, or an offer of, or solicitation for, a transaction in any financial instrument. IG accepts no responsibility for any use that may be made of these comments and for any consequences that result. No representation or warranty is given as to the accuracy or completeness of this information. Consequently any person acting on it does so entirely at their own risk. Any research provided does not have regard to the specific investment objectives, financial situation and needs of any specific person who may receive it. It has not been prepared in accordance with legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research and as such is considered to be a marketing communication. Although we are not specifically constrained from dealing ahead of our recommendations we do not seek to take advantage of them before they are provided to our clients.
Take a position on indices
Deal on the world’s major stock indices today.
- Trade the lowest Wall Street spreads on the market
- 1-point spread on the FTSE 100 and Germany 40
- The only provider to offer 24-hour pricing
Live prices on most popular markets
- Forex
- Shares
- Indices
