FTSE 100 higher as London loses global finance crown – Yahoo Finance

The FTSE 100 and European stocks finished higher this Thursday as the City of London lost its sole position as the world's leading financial centre and worries over banks following the collapses of several lenders in recent weeks receded.
The FTSE 100 (^FTSE) rose 0.74% to close at 7,620 points, while the CAC 40 (^FCHI) in Paris climbed 1.17% to 7,271 points. In Germany, the DAX (^GDAXI) gained 1.31% to 15,529.
London is no longer the clear leader among global financial centres after New York rose from second place to level peg with the British capital as more companies list in the United States, the City of London Corporation's said this Thursday.
London received an overall competitiveness score of 60, up from 59 in 2022, while New York increased its score by 2 points to equal London with 60 points.
According to the updating ranking compiled by the body which governs the City, London – which had come top outright in the previous three years of the report – will have to do more over the next few years to reassert its position.
Read more: Trending tickers: Apple | Microsoft | Ocado | Aviva | Next
Chris Hayward, policy chair at the City of London Corporation, said London’s “competitive advantage is at risk”, adding: “A long-term plan to stimulate growth in the financial and professional services sector is needed.”
US stocks are rising again as a bit more fear evaporates from Wall Street. The Dow Jones (^DJI) rose 0.26% to 32,802 points. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) climbed 0.53% to 4,049 points and the tech-heavy NASDAQ (^IXIC) gained 0.78% to 12,018.
The US economy maintained its resilience from October to December despite rising interest rates, growing at a 2.6%c annual pace, the government said Thursday in a slight downgrade from its previous estimate.
US applications for jobless benefits rose last week but remain at historically low levels despite efforts by the Federal Reserve to cool the economy and the job market in its fight against inflation.
"Market sentiment remains relatively positive, and investor confidence remains high despite the recent turmoil brought by the financial sector, as appetite for risk gets supported by the prospect of dovish pivots from central banks, providing a good excuse to push stock indices higher just before the end of the quarter," Pierre Veyret, a technical analyst at ActivTrades, said.
Jobless claims in the US for the week ending March 25 rose by 7,000 to 198,000 from the previous week, the Labor Department said.
The figures came as US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that banking regulation and supervisory rules need to be re-examined in the wake of the Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank failures.
In Asia, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 (^N225) lost 0.36% to 27,782 points, while the Hang Seng (^HSI) in Hong Kong rose 0.32% to 19,921. The Shanghai Composite (000001.SS) also gained ground, rising 0.65% to 3,261 points.
Back in London, SSE (SSE.L) has hiked its profit forecasts yet again. Shares in the electricity generator are among the top rises in early trading, up 4.26%.
SSE now expects to make 160 pence per share in the 2022-23 financial year, up from previous guidance of more than 150 pence/share.
It credits the upgrade to a “continued strong performance” from its flexible generation plant as it supported the security of UK energy supplies. UK households are facing a one in generation cost of living crisis driven mostly by higher energy bills.
Read more: Crypto: Bitcoin, ethereum price | US charges FTX's Bankman-Fried with bribery
Elsewhere, H&M (HM-B.ST), the world's second-biggest fashion retailer, has revealed a surprise operating profit for the December-February period.
Economists had expected the company to announce losses of around 1bn Swedish krona (£80m). It instead announced an operating profit of 725m krona (£56m) despite weak demand as consumers curtailed spending amid soaring inflation.
Another day without any unwelcome banking surprises has cheered investors, said Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor: "Technology shares were a particular area of buying interest and have seen gains in anticipation of hopes that the interest rate hiking cycle may be nearing its end. In addition, chipmaker Micron saw its shares rise by over 7% after stating that inventory issues were now improving.
"The rosy outlook statement added fuel to the fire of optimists, who read the news as being indicative that the overall economy was holding up, given that the company’s chips are used in a wide variety of industries. In terms of the main indices, the Nasdaq has been the stand-out performer and currently stands ahead by 14% in the year to date.
"Elsewhere, remarks to Congress by the US bank regulator appeared to lay the blame for the Silicon Valley Bank collapse at the door of the banking supervisors and their failure to spot the stresses, as opposed to a more systemic weakness within the system. While sentiment currently remains on something of a knife-edge, no news will continue to be good news in terms of any further banking shocks. The so-called fear gauge, or volatility index, also returned to early March levels as a further indication of investor relief that the worst may have passed."
The pound (GBPUSD=X) held steady and is heading for its biggest monthly gain against the dollar since November.
Sterling has risen by 0.5% against the dollar and remains well above $1.23. The pound is heading for its largest monthly gain since a 5.2% rally in November.
The opposite was happening against the euro, with sterling (GBPEUR=X) hovering around €1.13.
Meanwhile, Brent crude (BZ=F) gained ground and was trading at around $79/barrel, amid higher demand for crude in the US.
Fear of supply disruptions continues to dominate the global oil market, pushing prices higher.
Watch: Takeaways From Two Days of Bank Failure Hearings
Download the Yahoo Finance app, available for Apple and Android.
Related Quotes
Asian stocks followed Wall Street higher Friday ahead of a United States inflation update traders hope might prompt the Federal Reserve to ease plans for more interest rate hikes. Shanghai, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Sydney advanced. Wall Street rose Thursday as worries about the global financial system eased following the collapse of two U.S. banks and one in Switzerland.
U.S. job growth has remained remarkably strong, despite the Federal Reserve’s sharply increasing interest rates over the past year, the crumbling of housing, and several rounds of headline-grabbing layoffs from companies such as Google-parent Alphabet Meta Platforms and Amazon.com With businesses ranging from hospitals to hotels struggling to get to adequate staffing levels, the number of people losing jobs has paled in comparison to those who have been getting them. On Thursday the Labor Department reported there were a seasonally adjusted 198,000 new unemployment claims filed in the week ended Saturday, up a bit from the previous week’s 191,000, but still a very low figure.
(Bloomberg) — Mexico and Colombia, two of Latin America’s most hawkish central banks, are refusing to call a halt to their record monetary policy tightening cycles even after boosting rates again Thursday.Most Read from BloombergTrump Faces Fingerprints, Mug Shots After Historic Indictment$52 Billion Chipmaking Plan Is Racing Toward Failure$335,000 Pay for ‘AI Whisperer’ Jobs Appears in Red-Hot MarketNew Yorkers Are Moving to These Three Florida CitiesA $3 Trillion Threat to Global Financial Ma
The $97.8 million fine is for violating U.S. sanctions by allowing a foreign bank to make prohibited transactions.
Stock market indexes held the majority of morning gains at midday Wednesday. The Nasdaq composite, which had underperformed this week, led broad benchmarks higher with a 1.3% increase. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.
Paccar (PCAR) closed the most recent trading day at $72.35, moving +0.71% from the previous trading session.
In the latest trading session, HF Sinclair (DINO) closed at $49.14, marking a -1.29% move from the previous day.
US STOCKS-Wall St ends up with tech shares; regional banks fall
The secretive world of Federal Reserve bank supervision has been laid bare by the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and critics say it needs an overhaul to make it more nimble, transparent and decisive. In hearings this week, Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michael Barr told lawmakers that supervisors had repeatedly identified risks to the failed bank, beginning in 2021, and even took steps to restrict its growth in 2022 because they went unaddressed. Despite all that, SVB hit a wall earlier this month, collapsing in the space of less than 48 hours and unleashing fears of contagion.
Investors looking for alpha in an uncertain market environment could do worse than following in the footsteps of legendary stock pickers and probably none can match Warren Buffet’s reputation. Not for nothing the “Oracle of Omaha” is considered one of the all-time greats and for nearly 60 years, between 1965 and 2022, his Berkshire Hathaway firm’s returns have doubled those of the S&P 500. So, it’s definitely worth nosing through Buffett’s portfolio to see which stocks he currently holds. And wh
The Oracle of Omaha never saw a future in cryptocurrency.
The Dow Jones rose 175 points Thursday after first-time jobless claims and Q4 GDP data. Schwab stock dropped on an analyst downgrade.
What we know about the world’s richest.
(Bloomberg) — Charles Schwab Corp.’s clients are pulling cash out of the firm’s low-interest-rate bank accounts at twice the rate that Morgan Stanley expected, prompting the firm’s analyst to yank his buy-equivalent rating on Schwab for the first time since he began covering the brokerage stock seven years ago.Most Read from BloombergTrump Faces Fingerprints, Mug Shots After Historic Indictment$52 Billion Chipmaking Plan Is Racing Toward Failure$335,000 Pay for ‘AI Whisperer’ Jobs Appears in Re
Back in 2020, Tesla CEO Elon Musk made a plea for miners to invest in increased production of nickel, a key component – and an expensive one – in the batteries that power EVs. He even promised companies a “giant contract for a long period of time,” should they mine the metal in an environmentally friendly way. Maybe there were no takers to Musk’s offer, because earlier this year, a Reuters report signaled that Tesla might be readying to open a factory in Indonesia, in return for nickel mining ri
Tax season is upon us once again. If you are getting a tax return, why not consider investing it in a dividend ETF? Using your tax return to buy a high-yielding dividend ETF can help you to jump-start your own dividend portfolio. Investing in a dividend ETF like the JPMorgan Equity Premium Income ETF (NYSEARCA:JEPI) gives you access to a diverse array of dividend stocks and pays you passive income on a monthly basis, which helps compound your wealth over time. Here’s why you should consider allo
Palantir Technologies Inc. (PLTR) closed the most recent trading day at $8.15, moving -0.85% from the previous trading session.
Elon Musk doesn't seem all that impressed with Warren Buffett's stock picks. And he took to Twitter — of course — to say so.
The market rally has picked up steam, clearing key levels. Microsoft and Micron are among 10 stocks flashing buy signals.
The SECURE 2.0 Act, signed by President Biden in December 2022, includes dozens of changes to provisions related to tax-advantaged retirement accounts. Among the most important changes is a provision, which took effect Jan. 1 of this year, that delays … Continue reading → The post Your Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) Have Officially Been Pushed Back appeared first on SmartAsset Blog.

source

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *