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FTSE 100 Live (Evening Standard)
The dividend-paying meta platform paved the way for the Magnificent Seven last night after its Facebook owner reported a tripling of quarterly profits.
Markets on both sides of the Atlantic are set for a strong session today, with fellow tech giants Apple and Amazon also posting strong figures.
The gains came despite continued uncertainty over when the Federal Reserve and the Bank of England will start cutting interest rates.
Meta shares surge on first dividend, profits increase
07:52 , Graeme Evans
Meta Platform is scheduled to pay a dividend of 50 cents per share on March 26, its first distribution after posting strong fourth-quarter results last night.
The owners of Facebook and Instagram, which have previously returned capital through share buybacks, intend to make quarterly dividend payments.
It said revenue rose 25% to $40.1 billion (£31.4 billion) in the three months to December 31. Net income rose 201% to $14 billion (£11 billion).
Shares rose 15% to $454 in after-hours trading after the dividend and better-than-expected earnings performance. The number of employees was reported at 67,000 at the end of December, a 22% decline year-on-year.
Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said: “2023 was our “Year of Agility,” focused on improving our business to build Meta into a stronger technology company and providing the stability to deliver our ambitious long-term vision for AI and the metaverse. Was focused.”
More passengers on Ryanair and Wizz, but also more empty seats
07:49 , Daniel O’Boyle
Ryanair and Wizz Air both saw big increases in vacant seats in January compared to 2023.
Falling load factors at both low-cost airlines may be the latest sign security and geopolitical fears are driving people away from traveling, although Wizz Air noted that new visual flight rules and “redistribution of capacity” also played a role.
The number of passengers flying with both low-cost carriers continued to increase, but Ryanair’s load factor fell to 89%, compared to only 82% for Wizz Air.
File photo dated 02/09/22 of a Ryanair Boeing 737-8AS passenger aircraft coming in to land at Stansted Airport in Essex. Ryanair revealed a sharp fall in profits after rising fuel costs and cut its full-year profit outlook after it was removed from some online travel agent websites. (PA wire)
YouGov sticks to profit forecasts aided by tech firms
07:31 , Michael Hunter
London-listed polling and market intelligence group YouGov today stuck to its profit forecasts, helped by demand from the tech sector for market insights.
The company, best known for political surveys that track parties’ fortunes around major elections, also acknowledged that “some other areas have been more challenging”.
It also said there were “FX headwinds”, a reference to the pound’s strong level on currency markets, meaning revenues earned abroad buy less sterling.
“Reported revenues for the first half remain strong and we continue to invest in the business, particularly on staff costs,” it said.
The £1.4bn company’s half-year results are due at the end of March.
Market sees bullish momentum as tech giants’ mood improves, Meta surges on first dividend
07:17 , Graeme Evans
Magnificent Seven US stock markets are set to open higher after a largely positive reaction to results from tech giants Apple, Amazon and Meta Platform.
Plans by Facebook owner Meta to pay its first dividend after a tripling of fourth-quarter profit meant its shares gained as much as 15% in after-hours trading.
Retailer Amazon’s shares rose 7% on a 14% rise in net sales in the quarter, but Apple shares fell 3% on concerns over slowing growth in China that hit forecast-beating results. Happened.
In regular trading Thursday, the S&P 500 index and the Nasdaq Composite rose more than 1% as traders quickly came to terms with the Federal Reserve’s guidance that it is unlikely to cut interest rates in March.
Today’s Wall Street session includes results from oil giants Chevron and ExxonMobil and the latest non-farm payrolls data, which is expected to highlight the resilience of the US economy with 180,000 new jobs, compared with 216,000 in December.
The FTSE 100 index closed 0.1% lower last night, but CMC Markets estimates it will start today’s session 60 points higher at 7682.
Recap: Yesterday’s top stories
06:46 , simon hunt
Good morning from Standard City Desk.
The post-pandemic conventional wisdom that there will be millions of square feet of vacant office space in London in the work-from-home era now looks ridiculous.
As a new report yesterday shows, the opposite is true.
The pipeline of new office schemes is actually not full enough to meet the demand for additional new space from companies moving their staff back into central London.
One of London’s great strengths – unlike some of its more museum-like European rivals like Paris and Rome – is that there are plenty of ugly pieces that can be torn down or reinvented to make way for new ones. . So expect more cranes as the depleted office building pipeline refills to meet demand.
London’s skyline will once again be transformed by a new generation of tall buildings. This won’t please everyone. But constant reinvention is a key part of what makes London such a compelling world city.
Here’s a summary of our top stories from yesterday:
(PA Archive)
Source: uk.finance.yahoo.com
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