Earnings and trade hopes send FTSE 100 to new high

Independent

24-07-2025

The FTSE 100 posted another record close on Thursday, buoyed by well-received earnings and hopes for a trade deal between the US and Europe, following the Japan-US agreement.
The FTSE 100 index closed up 76.88 points, 0.9%, at 9,138.37, a new closing peak. It had earlier hit a new all-time high of 9,158.21.
The FTSE 250 closed up 141.92 points, 0.6%, at 22,155.41, and the AIM All-Share closed up 2.88 points, 0.4%, at 776.87.
'The positive sentiment generated by the trade deal agreed between the US and Japan continued to permeate the markets,' said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.
This was boosted further by 'optimism surrounding trade talks between the US and EU', said Joshua Mahony, chief market analyst at Rostro trading group.
In European equities on Thursday, the CAC 40 in Paris fell 0.4%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt gained 0.2%.
A European Commission spokesman said that he believed a trade deal with the US is 'within reach', AFP reported.
According to multiple diplomats, the deal could waive tariffs on aircraft, timber, pharmaceutical products and agricultural goods.
This followed a report in the Financial Times late on Wednesday that a trade deal between the EU and the US was close.
Meanwhile, the European Central Bank left interest rates unchanged despite a 'challenging' environment and uncertainty caused by trade disputes.
The decision, which was expected, leaves the rate on the deposit facility at 2%, on the main refinancing operations at 2.15%, and on the marginal lending facility at 2.4%.
The Frankfurt-based lender said the economy has so far proved resilient overall, partly reflecting recent rate cuts, in a 'challenging' global environment but there remains exceptional uncertainty, especially because of trade disputes.
The ECB's governing council said it will follow a data-dependent and meeting-by-meeting approach to determining the appropriate monetary policy stance.
ECB president Christine Lagarde said that policymakers were 'in a wait-and-watch situation' and members of the governing council had voted unanimously to keep rates on hold.
Risks to growth remained 'tilted to the downside', she said, but the economic outlook could also improve if there is a quick resolution of trade tensions.
Matthew Ryan at Ebury said: 'The ECB stuck to the script on Thursday.
'As expected, there was no change in rates and president Lagarde repeated that the bank was both in a 'good place' and a wait-and-see mode, suggesting that the governing council has no plans to alter policy for the time being.'
Mr Ryan detected a 'moderately hawkish' tone in Ms Lagarde's comments, as 'she not only expressed confidence over the 2% inflation target, but said that the economy was performing better than expected, while making no attempt to talk down the value of the euro'.
But barring a 'blowup' in US-EU trade negotiations, Mr Ryan thinks that the ECB will likely stay on hold through at least the next couple of meetings.
The pound eased to 1.3535 dollars late on Thursday in London, compared with 1.3571 dollars at the equities close on Wednesday.
The euro traded at 1.1773 dollars, higher against 1.1737 dollars. Against the yen, the dollar was trading higher at 146.79 yen, compared with 146.33 yen.
In New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.4%, the S&P 500 traded 0.2% higher as did the Nasdaq Composite.
There were mixed fortunes for two of the 'Magnificent Seven' following earnings released after Wednesday's closing bell in New York.
Google parent company Alphabet rose 1.7% after better-than-expected second quarter results.
'Google delivered what we believe is a defining quarter with 32% Google Cloud revenue growth, increasing scale of AI search products, and greater benefits from AI across every part of the business,' said analysts at JPMorgan.
'We believe the combination of strong AI-driven Cloud demand and accelerating backlog makes Google Cloud a bigger driver of the bull case going forward,' JPM added.
But Tesla fell 7.6% after its second-quarter results underwhelmed.
AJ Bell's Russ Mould said the results are 'as ugly as the Cybertruck design, with revenue, profit, margins and free cash flow all in decline. It's difficult to see how Tesla digs itself out of the hole it is in any time soon'.
'Competition is fierce, tariffs are biting, the end of tax credits for electric vehicle buyers in the US could hurt, Elon Musk's political escapades have been a turn-off for many people, and product innovation has failed to make waves,' he added.
The yield on the US 10-year Treasury was quoted at 4.4%, stretched from 4.38%. The yield on the US 30-year Treasury was quoted at 4.94%, unmoved from Wednesday.
In London, BT surged 10% after what Berenberg called a 'reassuring' first-quarter trading update.
Berenberg said earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation was slightly ahead of consensus, with Openreach the main driver of this beat.
In addition, BT said Virgin Media O2 chief financial officer Patricia Cobian will replace Simon Lowth as BT's chief financial officer, joining in the summer of 2026.
Mr Lowth has been chief financial officer for for nine years, and will retire following a handover to Ms Cobian. BT will announce the date of Ms Cobian's arrival 'in due course'.
Reckitt Benckiser jumped 10% as it raised full-year guidance, lifted its dividend and launched a new share buyback, as it said its strategic reset is bearing fruit.
'This is a strong first-half performance with Core Reckitt growing like-for-like net revenues 4.2%, demonstrating the strength of our Powerbrands and the positive impact of the strategy we launched a year ago,' chief executive Kris Licht said.
The maker of Nurofen painkillers and Strepsils lozenges said pre-tax profit fell 14% to £1.31 billion in the six months to June 30 from £1.52 billion a year prior, as revenue slipped 2.6% to £6.98 billion from £7.17 billion.
But like-for-like sales rose 1.5% in the half-year, and by 1.9% in the second quarter, Reckitt said. Within core brands, Reckitt said like-for-like sales increased by 4.2%.
Reckitt now targets like-for-like net revenue growth of above 4% in 'Core Reckitt' for 2025, improved from previous guidance of 3% to 4% growth.
Lloyds Banking Group edged up 0.9% after it increased its dividend ahead of half-year earnings growth and confirmed its full-year guidance, citing strategic progress and strong capital generation.
Other blue-chips to benefit from well-received results were Howden Joinery, Vodafone and Airtel Africa, up 8.7%, 3.6% and 7.2% respectively.
On the FTSE 250, media firm ITV jumped 13% after its earnings, online trading platform IG rose 8% as it accompanied results with a new share buyback, and an upbeat trading update boosted building materials company Wickes 3%.
The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were BT Group, up 20.8p at 220.2p, Reckitt Benckiser, up 518p at 5,558p, Howden Joinery, up 73p at 908.5p, Airtel Africa, up 13.2p at 196.3p and Ashtead Group, up 191p at 5,048p.
The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were SSE, down 60.5p at 1,851.5p, Beazley, down 20.5p at 889.5p, Fresnillo, down 30p at 1,433p, 3i Group, down 80p at 4,264p and BP, down 6.8p at 397.7p.
Brent oil was quoted higher at 69.40 dollars a barrel in London on Thursday, from 68.24 dollars late Wednesday. Gold eased to 3,373.34 dollars an ounce against 3,412.38 dollars.
Friday's local corporate calendar sees half-year results from lender NatWest, property portal Rightmove and a trading statement from pub operator Mitchells & Butlers.
The global economic calendar on Friday has UK retail and consumer confidence data plus US durable goods orders figure