UK and European markets edged higher this morning. Photo: Toby Melville/Reuters

European markets and the FTSE 100 edged higher on Wednesday as investors turned their attention to key US inflation data due later.

The FTSE 100 (^FTSE) rose 0.02% to 7,787, while the CAC 40 (^FCHI) in Paris went up 0.89% to 7,390 points – and in Germany, the DAX (^GDAXI) gained 0.37% to 15,655.

Stocks at the top

The top FTSE 100 risers were Frasers Group (FRAS.L), up 1.66%; Unite Group (UTG.L), up 1.24%; Weir Group (WEIR.L), up 1.21% - and Burberry (BRBY.L), up 1.21%.

In contrast, Anglo American (AAL.L) and Ocado Group (OCDO.L) were at the bottom of the basket with their shares down 1.16% and 1.15% respectively.

Asia and US

In Asia, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 (^N225) rose 0.68% to 28,113 points, while the Hang Seng (^HSI) in Hong Kong fell 0.58% to 20,366. In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite (000001.SS) gained 0.24% to 3,321.67 points.

In the US, Wall Street finished mixed ahead of key CPI inflation data for March.

The Dow Jones (^DJI) rose 0.29% to 33,684 points, while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) closed flat at 4,108.94 points. The tech-heavy NASDAQ (^IXIC) dropped 0.18% to 12,031.

Economic data

In the US, key inflation data will be released today with economists surveyed by Bloomberg expecting March’s consumer price index (CPI) to climb 0.3% from February’s figure, lowering the year-over-year inflation rate to 5.2%.

“This is the week that could tell us that the US consumer is no longer showing resilience and in fact is rather weak; core inflation is making things more expensive, retail sales might show the consumer is tapped out, and the banks might paint a picture that American savings accounts are down and credit card debt is skyrocketing,” Edward Moya, an analyst at OANDA, said in a note to clients.

Read more: Inflation data expected to show continued signs of cooling in March

Bank earnings

It’s also a big earnings week for banks, including JPMorgan (JPM), Wells Fargo (WFC), and Citi (C) – with all three due to report their first-quarter results on Friday.



The three banks were part of a consortium last month that injected some $30bn in deposits into First Republic to shore up the struggling lender.

Tina Teng, market analyst at CMC Markets, said: “Higher interest income is expected for the banks specialising in lending, such as JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo. However, the outlook may stay gloomy due to the bank crisis in early March. The risks will be upon reduction in deposits, increase in loan loss provisions, and decline in the capital markets.”

Read more: Bank stocks to watch ahead of earnings reports

Oil prices

Meanwhile, US crude oil, or West Texas Intermediate (CL=F), gained 0.12% to $81.63 a barrel, while Brent crude (BZ=F) also went up – by 0.15% to $85.74 a barrel.

British pound

In currency news, the British pound fell slightly against the US dollar (GBPUSD=X) – down 0.01% to 1.24, meaning £1 will get you $1.24. Against the Euro, the British pound (GBPEUR=X) also fell – by 0.04% to 1.13.

De La Rue shares

Meanwhile, De La Rue shares plunged on Wednesday by over 30%, bringing its one-year loss to around 68% and its 5-year share price decline to more than 92%.

It comes after the company issued a profit warning with full-year earnings for fiscal 2023 expected to fall short of market estimates.

Victoria Scholar, head of investment at Interactive Investor, said: “2023 adjusted operating profit is now seen coming in at a mid-single digit percentage and for fiscal 2024 De La Rue forecasts a figure in the low £20 million range.

“The British currency and passport maker has been suffering from weak demand for banknotes which is languishing at a 20-year low. Activist investor Crystal Amber Funds recently said the group’s turnaround plan announced three years ago is failing ‘by every measure’ and the company is ‘failing to control’ various fees paid out. The activist has also been trying to remove Kev Loosemore as Chairman but he survived a vote in December.”

Scholar also highlighted how, in recent years, De La Rue has struggled with the major loss of its British passport contract after Brexit, increased costs, supply chain woes, and a structural decline in demand for physical cash amid the rise of contactless payments and digital banking.

Rightmove UK home sales

In other news, Rightmove said the number of agreed home sales in March was just 1% below pre-pandemic levels from March 2019 but is down 18% year-on-year. A pickup in buyer demand resulted in a 10% increase in agreed sales from 2019 versus an 11% drop at the start of the year.

Victoria Scholar commented: “The market has been recovering since the turmoil around the mini-budget last year which sent mortgage rates temporarily sharply higher. Reduced asking prices have helped to generate a pickup in sales, with particular strength in the British capital thanks to strong demand from workers and overseas buyers for London apartments.

“With the housing market likely to cool further this year, and the Bank of England nearing the peak of the rate hiking cycle, we could see more buyers return to the market, as the recent headwinds which have stymied transactional activity subside.”

Watch: Wall Street ends mixed as inflation data comes into focus
The Dow added three-tenths of one percent, the S&P 500 was flat and the Nasdaq fell 4-tenths.
Stocks briefly gained momentum in the afternoon as Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee urged caution, warning that the Federal Reserve needs to be careful about raising rates too aggressively in its efforts to tame inflation.
With a lack of market moving catalysts, investors looked ahead to Wednesday's consumer price index for any evidence that the long, slow inflation cooldown continues.
While Friday brings earnings from JP Morgan Chase and other big banks as the first-quarter reporting season ramps up…
WealthWise Financial CEO Loreen Gilbert doesn’t have high expectations for corporate profits.
“Yeah, we are definitely in the camp of being on the more bearish side, seeing the opportunities in fixed income and paring down some equity exposure, preparing ourselves for the earnings recession that we think is taking place right now, which then crimps profits and then we'll cause more layoffs to occur. So we see the economy deteriorating from here, and for, you know, the foreseeable future during this year and then seeing a positive earnings towards the end of the year. “
Bitcoin on the other hand is performing well, the cryptocurrency topped the $30,000 level for the first time in 10 months. That pushed Coinbase Global 6-percent higher.
Also, used-car retailer CarMax jumped nearly 10-percent after it posted quarterly results that topped expectations.","thumbnailUrl":"https://s.yimg.com/uu/api/res/1.2/AMhE3mU4QrpH7Y._shvksw--~B/aD01NDA7dz05NjA7YXBwaWQ9eXRhY2h5b24-/https://media.zenfs.com/en/video.reutersnews.com/d3b0388c3ef1e866799651119f47d090","uploadDate":"2023-04-11T22:29:57Z","duration":"PT1M55S","contentUrl":"https://video.media.yql.yahoo.com/v1/video/sapi/hlsstreams/649b81f1-3357-336c-8e00-417186333ca0.m3u8?site=finance®ion=GB&lang=en-GB&devtype=desktop&src=sapi","embedUrl":"https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/video/wall-st-ends-mixed-inflation-221422527.html?format=embed","identifier":"649b81f1-3357-336c-8e00-417186333ca0"}

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