Updated 2 min read
Wall Street opened in the red on Thursday, with the FTSE 100 (^FTSE) lagging behind its European peers, as investors weighed up Trump's planned tariffs and policy shifts, as well as the latest jobs data.
The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits rose for the week of 15 February. There were 219,000 new initial claims for jobless support last week, an increase of 5,000 from the previous week. Continuing claims for the week of 8 February advanced to 1.85 million from 1.845 million. However figures still remain near historical lows.
Meanwhile, worries grew about coming headwinds for corporate America after Walmart (WMT) put out a downbeat 2025 outlook. While the retail giant's profit and revenue met high expectations, its shares slid roughly 6%.
It came as UK consumer confidence sank to a new low amid concerns about finances and the state of the economy.
According to the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and Opinium, the public’s expectations for the economy worsened for a fifth month running in February, having fallen almost 40 points since July last year.
Households are also more pessimistic about their own personal finances as they anticipate further price rises in the shops, as retailers pass on higher taxes.
Some 50% of people expect the state of the UK economy to worsen over the next three months, up from 48% in January and 42% in December.
With just 13% of consumers expecting better conditions and 32% predicting no change, that nets out to a balance of -37, down from -34 the month before.
Follow along for live updates throughout the day:
LIVE COVERAGE IS OVER 21 updates
UK consumer confidence sank to a new low this month amid concerns about finances and the state of the economy.
According to the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and Opinium, the public’s expectations for the economy worsened for a fifth month running in February, having fallen almost 40 points since July last year.
Households are also more pessimistic about their own personal finances as they anticipate further price rises in the shops, as retailers pass on higher taxes.
Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium, said:
Lloyds (LLOY.L) has reported a significant 20.4% drop in its annual profit, falling short of market forecasts, as the bank set aside additional funds for potential motor finance payouts.
The UK’s largest mortgage lender revealed a pretax profit of £5.97bn ($7.5bn) for the year 2024, down from £7.5bn in 2023. Analysts had predicted a slightly higher profit of £6.39bn, according to a consensus compiled by Reuters.
The bank attributed the decline to the impact of interest rate cuts on lending margins and the ongoing sluggishness in Britain’s economic recovery.
Net interest margin — the difference between savings and loan rates — fell 16 basis points to 2.95%.
Underlying net interest income fell 7% to £12.8bn amid falling interest rates. Pre-tax profit also tumbled in the fourth quarter to £824m, a 55% drop from the £1.8bn achieved in the previous quarter.
Despite the overall downturn, the bank’s net income for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024 rose by 3.4%, reaching £4.37bn compared to the same quarter in the previous year.
However, underlying profit for the quarter plummeted by 43.1% year-on-year to £993m, while earnings per share stood at just 1 pence, a 41.2% decline compared to the same period in 2023.
Asian shares traded mostly lower after a quiet day on Wall Street, with the Nikkei (^N225) down 1.2% on the day in Japan, while the Hang Seng (^HSI) fell 1.6% in Hong Kong.
The Shanghai Composite (000001.SS) was flat end of the session after China left its benchmark interest rate unchanged, in a move it said was meant to maintain financial stability.
Across the pond on Wall Street, the benchmark S&P 500 (^GSPC) rose 0.2% to 6,144.15, adding to its record high. The Dow Jones (^DJI) climbed 0.2% to 44,627.59 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) advanced 0.1% to 20,056.25.
It came amid concerns about Donald Trump’s tariff policies which continued to weigh on investors’ minds.
In the bond market, the yield on key 10-year US Treasury notes fell to 4.538% from 4.551% late on Tuesday.
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 all that's happening across the global economy.
Here's a quick look at what's on the agenda for today:
-
Trading updates: Lloyds, Anglo American, Centrica, Mondi, Hays, Safestore
-
CBI industrial trends report
-
US initial jobless claims data
-
3pm: Eurozone consumer confidence report for February
