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US stocks rebound, FTSE lower amid vaccine spat and Reddit volatility
StockMarketWire.com
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The FTSE 100 closed down 0.6% to 6,526.15, off its intra-day lows, amid Reddit-inspired volatility and a continuing war of words over vaccine supply.
The impact of investors, who have co-ordinated their efforts through the Reddit social media platform, attacking hedge fund shorts is causing uncertainty.
American Airlines was the latest name see its shares surge as the shorters were targeted. But GameStop, which was where all this action started, more than halved in value.
By 4.30pm UK time the S&P 500 index was up 1.7% to 3,812.78, a big rebound which followed the worst session for US stocks since October.
Budget airline EasyJet reported a slump in first quarter revenue and said it expected second-quarter capacity of just 10% of the prior-year period as lockdowns continued to dent air travel activity.
For the three months ended 31 December, revenue fell 88.4% to £165 million year-on-year as number of flights slumped 83.3% following an 87.1% reduction in the passengers. Despite this the share gained ground through the day, reversing earlier losses to trade up 4.6% at 746.6p.
Similarly, Hungarian airline Wizz Air has reported a €116 million (£102 million) quarterly loss, as restrictions continue to inhibit the aviation market.
The company said that it carried only 2.3 million passengers, down 77% compared to the same time last year, causing revenue to fall 76.5% to €149.9 million (£132.7 million). Its shares were up 4.7% to £44.02.
Euromoney also reported a fall in revenue in the first quarter of the year as the pandemic-led impact on physical events hurt revenue in its institutional investor business. Its share price fell 0.9% to 960p.
Britvic was up 0.7% to 766p as the soft-drinks maker reported a decline in first quarter revenue and said performance would continue to be affected by the pandemic-led sales weakness in its out-of-home division.
In the first quarter, total revenue fell 9.8% to £328.1 million and was down 5.8%, when the the disposal of the French private label juice business was excluded.
Alcoholic drinks maker Diageo, meanwhile, has raised its interim dividend even as first-half profit and sales declined amid lower pandemic fuelled sales from pubs and bars.
For the six months ended 31 December, Reported net sales fell 4.5% during the second half of the year, while operating profit declined 8.3% to £2.2 billion. Its share price was up 3.2% to £29.43.
Private equity group 3i reported an increase in the third-quarter net asset as higher returns in its private equity portfolio helped offset the impact of a stronger sterling.
For the quarter ended 31 December, net asset value per share increased to 936p from 905p quarter-on-quarter and total returns grew 18.7%. It gained 0.1% to £11.27.
Wealth management group St. James's Place has reported a modest 1% gross inflow increase for Q4 against the same period in 2019, totaling £4.02 billion. It gained 0.7% to £12.01.
Tritax Big Box REIT saw record take-up of logistic real estate space in 2020, reporting year-on-year growth of more than 50%. Its share price, however, fell slightly in early morning trading, up 0.3% to 183.3p
Story provided by StockMarketWire.com
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