The FTSE 100 (^FTSE) rose on Thursday while European stocks were mixed after a lacklustre Wall Street session last night, and mixed reporting from three of the ‘Mag 7’ tech giants.
It came as a majority of members in the Fed’s federal open market committee (FOMC) voted to hold interest rates, which currently sit at a range of 3.5% to 3.75%, after consecutive three cuts at the end of last year.
Although the US central bank paused rate cuts, it may restart once a new chair has been installed to replace Jerome Powell later this year.
Jim Reid, macro strategist at Deutsche Bank, said: “Yesterday was a rare occasion when both the latest Fed decision and a slew of Mag-7 results failed to materially move markets, with a pause by the FOMC leaving bonds and equities little changed while mixed results from Microsoft (MSFT) and Meta (META) have left equity futures with marginal gains overnight.”
Microsoft’s (MSFT) shares slumped around 6% after-hours despite a modest earnings beat, as the software company only just met elevated cloud revenue growth expectations. By contrast, Meta (META) surged by more than 6% as it projected stronger ad-driven sales for the current quarter and guided for stronger CAPEX in 2026 as a whole.
Meanwhile, Tesla’s (TSLA) shares gained around 2% after delivering a decent earnings beat and laying out plans to invest $20bn this year to streamline its EV line-up and expand work on robotics and AI.
Later today, Apple (AAPL) will be reporting after the closing bell in New York.
Elsewhere, gold prices (GC=F) have jumped over the $5,500 an ounce level this morning, just three days after hitting $5,000 for the first time ever. This means gains year-to-date are almost 30%, with precious metals continuing to benefit from a weaker dollar.
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London’s benchmark index (^FTSE) was 0.6% higher in early trade.
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Germany’s DAX (^GDAXI) dipped 0.6% and the CAC (^FCHI) in Paris headed 0.9% into the green.
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The pan-European STOXX 600 (^STOXX) was up 0.5%.
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Wall Street is set for a positive start as S&P 500 futures (ES=F), Dow futures (YM=F) and Nasdaq futures (NQ=F) were all in the green.
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The pound was 0.2% up against the US dollar (GBPUSD=X) at 1.3838.
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LIVE 3 updates
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Lloyds launches £1.75bn buyback after profit beats expectations
Lloyds (LLOY.L) has launched a £1.75bn share buyback after reporting a jump in annual profits to £6.7bn, comfortably ahead of market expectations.
The FTSE 100 (^FTSE) lender said pre-tax profit rose 12% in 2025, beating the £6.4bn forecast by analysts, as income proved resilient despite accelerating interest rate cuts. The Bank of England reduced its base rate by a full percentage point over the year. It also came in above the £5.97bn profits of 2024.
Net interest income increased 6% to £13.6bn compared with 2024, when rates were at a post financial crisis high of 5.25%. Overall income climbed 7% to £18.3bn.
The bank said it would return further capital to shareholders through a £1.75bn buyback, taking total distributions for the 2025 financial year to about £3.9bn. Lloyds also raised its ordinary dividend by 15% year on year to 3.65p a share.
Chief executive Charlie Nunn said:
Nunn said the group intended to outline the next phase of its strategy in 2026.
Read more here
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Asia and US overnight
Stocks in Asia were higher overnight, with the Nikkei (^N225) hovering just above the flatline in Japan, while the Hang Seng (^HSI) rose 0.5% in Hong Kong. The Shanghai Composite (000001.SS) was 0.2% up by the end of the session.
In South Korea, the Kospi (^KS11) added 1% on the day, leading the way again.
Across the pond on Wall Street, the S&P 500 (^GSPC) was essentially unchanged at 6,978, after reaching the 7,000 level intra-day for the first time earlier in the session. The tech-heavy Nasdaq (^IXIC) and the Dow Jones (^DJI) also ended flat.
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Coming up
Good morning, and welcome back to our markets live blog. As usual we will be taking a deep dive into what’s moving markets and what’s happening across the global economy.
To the day ahead, data releases include the US November trade balance, factory orders and initial jobless claims, Italy’s November industrial sales, the Euro Area’s January economic confidence. Central bank events include the Riksbank decision, and the ECB’s Cipollone will be speaking today. Finally, Apple, Visa, Mastercard and Blackstone are among those reporting today.
Here’s a quick look at what’s on the agenda:
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7am: Trading updates: Lloyds Banking Group, Glencore, Antofagasta, easyJet, St James’s Place, Wizz Air, Fevertree Drinks, Hilton Food Group, Crest Nicholson, Rank, Henry Boot, Luceco, Saga
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10am: Eurozone consumer/business confidence report
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1.30pm: US trade report for November
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1.30pm: US initial jobless claims report
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3pm: US factory orders data for November
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