Tesco sells its banking unit to Barclays
Tesco is selling its banking operations to Barclays, removing £7.7bn of capital-intensive assets and £6.7bn of financial liabilities from the Tesco balance sheet.
US indices
US indices closed marginally higher on Thursday, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq extending their record at close. In Japan, the Nikkei hit a new 34-year high. Several Asia–Pacific (APAC) indices are closed for the Lunar New Year holidays.
The curreny market
On the currency market, the yen shows signs of weakness. USD/JPY trades at a 10-week high. Against the Euro, Australian dollar, and Canadian dollar, the dollar is poised to record a sixth consecutive week of gains.
UK inflation
Next week, the British pound could react to the latest UK inflation data. Headline consumer price inflation reached 4% in December, less than half the rate at the start of 2023, but it is still double the Bank of England (BoE)'s target rate of 2%
Tesco
Tesco is selling its banking operations to Barclays, removing £7.7bn of capital-intensive assets and £6.7bn of financial liabilities from the Tesco balance sheet. Tesco will receive annual income for the use of the Tesco brand, including Clubcard.
Bellway
Bellway's revenue came in at £1.25 billion, in line with the board's expectations. The private reservation rate increased by 15.4% to 105 per week.
Hermes
Hermes sales rose 17.5% in the fourth quarter of 2023 to €3.36 billion. That was ahead of expectations for 14% growth. For the full year, revenue rose 21% in constant currency, and net profit rose 28% to €4.31 billion.
L'Oréal
L'Oreal unveiled its Q4 earnings yesterday afternoon after the close of European markets. The group posted fourth-quarter sales of €10.6Bln, or a 6.9% rise year-over-year (YoY), just shy of expectations for €10.9Bln. Earnings per share (EPS) came in at €12.08, and operating margin for 2023 stood at 19.8%, in line with expectations.
PepsiCo
PepsiCo is set to report quarterly earnings at lunchtime. The street anticipates earnings to rise by 3% to $1.72 per share on revenue of $28.38 billion, marginally higher than revenue in Q4 2022.
WTI and Brent
WTI and Brent rose about 3% on Thursday after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a proposal to end the war in the Palestinian enclave. The tensions have kept oil prices elevated. Brent and WTI have gained more than 5% this week. Oil analysts await Baker Hughes data tonight. Last Friday, Baker Hughes total rig count fell by two to 619. The number of active oil rigs remained at 499.
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