FTSE 100 LIVE: Stocks head lower as traders await US inflation figures

Fundraising from London initial public offerings (IPOs) has fallen around 9% this year to $1bn, pushing the UK four spots lower to 20th place in a ranking of global IPO venues, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

This means Britain has been overtaken by upstarts including Oman, a market that’s 1% the size of the UK, as well as Malaysia and Luxembourg.

Roughly a dozen firms have listed in London this year, with the largest raising just above £150m ($191m). The city didn’t have any listings among the top 100 globally, with Greece, Sweden and South Africa all hosting bigger offerings this year.

The latest analysis from Inventory Base has revealed that England’s landlords have benefitted from rental yield increases of up to 0.7% since the start of the year.

The analysis showed: –

• The average yield across all of England currently stands at 5.2%, marking an increase of 0.05% since the start of the year.

• On a regional level, landlords in London are benefiting from the highest yields, currently standing at 4.9%.

• London has also recorded the largest increase in yields since the start of the year, rising 0.19%.

• An analysis of local authority district data showed that some areas of England have seen significantly higher yield growth since January.

• The highest yield growth has been recorded in Brent, London, where the current average yield of 4.6% marks an increase of 0.7% since the start of the year.

• As of now, the local authority district with the highest average yields is Portsmouth, where landlords now see an average yield of 6.2%.

• In Burnley, the average yield is 6.1%, followed by Manchester (6%), the City of Bristol (5.9%), Newcastle-upon-Tyne (5.8%), Southampton (5.8%), Tower Hamlets (5.7%), and the City of Nottingham (5.6%).

Heathrow airport said it is prepping for its busiest Christmas Day ever, expecting the number of passengers travelling through its terminals to be 21% higher than on the same day last year.

Europe’s busiest airport also predicted that travellers for the month as a whole will exceed the previous record of 6.7 million in 2023.

It come as Heathrow saw 6.5 million passengers last month, up 6.1% last year, and marking its busiest November on record.

The total volume of cargo handled by Heathrow in the first 11 months of the year was 11.2% higher than in the same period in 2023 thanks to an increase in the cargo capacity of modern aircraft and strong demand.

Thomas Woldbye, Heathrow’s chief executive, said:

Tui (TUI1.DE) saw its annual earnings rise by a third thanks to surging demand for package holidays and increased prices.

Europe’s largest tour operator said some 20.3 million people travelled in 2024, compared with 19 million the year before, while revenues climbed by 12% to €23.2bn.

Underlying profits rose by a third to €1.3bn from €977m and profit is expected to rise by between 7% and 10% next year.

Winter bookings have risen by 4% year-on-year with 62% of holidays sold, it said. Tui raised its prices by 5% and sold more package holidays and dynamically packaged trips, where travellers can book individual components with dynamic pricing.

Sebastian Ebel, chief executive of Tui, said:

Zara owner Inditex (ITX.MC) posted a rare miss on quarterly sales and profit on Wednesday, although it said the holiday shopping season had got off to a good start.

Shares in the world’s biggest listed fast-fashion retailer, which have risen about 30% this year, fell 6% in early trading as investors digested the news.

It blamed currency fluctuations and severe floods in Spain, which is the company’s biggest market, on the weaker results.

Third-quarter sales of €9.36bn ($9.84bn) came in below the €9.51bn expected by analysts. An 8.5% rise in nine-month net profit to €4.44bn also lagged the €4.52bn expected by analysts.

A strong dollar and weak euro also hurt the result, analysts said, as Inditex makes most of its sales in euros.

British American Tobacco (BATS.L) reiterated full-year expectations on Wednesday after revenues growth accelerated in the second half of the year.

The FTSE 100 (^FTSE) firm, which owns the Dunhill, Kent, Lucky Strike and the vaping brand Vuse, said it benefited from factors including the phasing of innovation in newer categories.

The company’s 2024 forecasts showed a 2% decline in global tobacco industry volumes and for its constant currency revenues, and adjusted profits to deliver growth in the low-single digits.

BAT continues to target mid-term guidance of 3-5% revenue growth and mid-single digit adjusted profit growth from operations by 2026.

Tadeu Marrocom, chief executive, said:

Investors are looking ahead to US inflation figures due out this afternoon which could cement the path for interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve.

Analysts are expecting the annual rate of the consumer prices index to rise to 2.7% from 2.6%, while the core measure, which strips out volatile items like food and energy, is forecast to remain at 3.3%.

The data will be followed by a further reading on Thursday at the wholesale level.

Richard Hunter, head of markets at interactive investor, said:

Stocks in Asia were mixed overnight with the Nikkei (^N225) flat on the day in Japan, while the Hang Seng (^HSI) fell 0.8% in Hong Kong. The Shanghai Composite (000001.SS) was 0.3% up by the end of the session.

Seoul extended Tuesday’s rebound rally, though political uncertainty after South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol’s brief imposition of martial law kept the won under pressure around two-year lows against the dollar.

There were also gains in Wellington and Jakarta while Sydney, Singapore, Taipei and Manila fell.

Across the pond on Wall Street, markets diverged on Wednesday ahead of US inflation data that could play a key role in the Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision next week, while traders were also keeping tabs on Beijing hoping for more economic support measures.

The S&P 500 (^GSPC) slipped 0.3%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq (^IXIC) was also 0.3% lower. The Dow Jones (^DJI) ended 0.35% lower in New York.

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 going on across the global economy.

Here’s a quick look at what’s on the agenda for today:

• 7am: Trading updates: Optima Health

• 12pm: US MBA Mortgage Applications

• 1.30pm: US inflation for November

• 2.45pm: Bank of Canada interest rate decision