London shares buy back on FCA decision, corporate results

Lower oil and metal prices weighed on the commodity-rich FTSE 100 yesterday and the atmosphere remained tense ahead of important monetary policy decisions from the eurozone and the US this week. The FTSE 100 dropped 1.2%.

This morning, the index bounced back to a 0.3% gain thanks to a few good corporate results, while investors cheered the FCA’s decision to change listing rules to make it easier for companies to list in London.

Flutter UK saw its revenue in Britain jump 17% in Q1. This was before the Government announced gambling reforms that could harm the business.

Education group Pearson bounced back after having fallen 14% yesterday after US-based Chegg said that AI was already having a strong impact on its revenues. It shares were up 4.7% this morning.

Meanwhile, BP Plc’s shares were still down 1.1% after the oil major issued a disappointing outlook yesterday and announced that it would slow down the pace of its share buybacks.

Investors are focused on tonight's Fed rate decision, which is widely expected to be an increase of 25 basis points, and the last in this rate hike cycle.

 

Things to read today:

Three failed US banks had one thing in common: KPMG (Financial Times)

Why is Inflation So Sticky? It Could Be Corporate Profits (WSJ)