- FTSE 100 up 36 factors to 10,894
- HSBC will increase income amid requires financial institution windfall tax
- BP, Smith & Nephew, Travis-Perkins, ConvaTec, AG Barr additionally report outcomes
1.36pm: Palantir and (the hungry) Caterpillar
Two large shares making large strikes forward of the US opening bell are Palantir and Caterpillar, which sounds prefer it could possibly be an uncommon kids’s storybook.
Palantir shares are up 15.6% in pre-market buying and selling, after quarterly income and earnings each handily beat forecasts on accelerating demand for its AI software program.
Second-quarter income jumped 93% to $1.9 billion, forward of the $1.8 billion anticipated, while adjusted earnings per share of $0.41 beat forecasts of $0.35.
US industrial income soared 149% to $764 million, while authorities income elevated 90% to $809 million. Palantir closed 220 contracts value no less than $1 million through the quarter.
Chief govt Alex Karp described the efficiency as “otherworldly”.
Meanwhile, Caterpillar inventory is up 11% because it additionally loved the outcomes of booming AI demand, which has pushed gross sales for its power-generation gear.
Sales rose 24% to a report $20.5 billion, beating forecasts of $19.3 billion and topping $20 billion for the primary time.
Adjusted EPS surged 73% to $8.17, miles above the $6.17 anticipated, because the margins widened to 21.9% from 17.6%.
CEO Joe Creed hailed the “milestone” of bypassing $20 billion on the prime line, and mentioned: “Strong order rates and a growing backlog reflect broadening momentum across all three of our primary segments.”
1.01pm: Oil falls on US Treasury Sec feedback on Hormuz
Oil costs have pulled again once more, following some feedback from US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who mentioned a take care of Iran could possibly be introduced as quickly as tomorrow.
“I think there’s a chance we may have a deal today or tomorrow to open the strait,” he mentioned in a CNBC interview.
Brent crude, which topped $86 not way back, is now down 3.1% on the day at $81.10 a barrel.
Reuters reported earlier that the US Army has spent practically its complete stockpile of long-range precision missiles in 5 months of the Iran struggle.
12.29pm: US shares seen larger
Wall Street is about to increase its rebound rally, with futures pointing to a powerful opening for know-how shares and blue chips.
Dow futures are up 453 factors, or 0.9%, while Nasdaq futures are pointing to a achieve of 0.9%.
S&P 500 futures are 0.2% larger, which can take it to a brand new all-time excessive.
The features comply with a buoyant begin to the week, when easing oil costs, stronger US manufacturing knowledge and renewed hopes for diplomacy with Iran lifted sentiment.
But oil costs have been shifting larger this morning., with Brent topping $86, after contemporary stories of assaults within the Strait of Hormuz in a single day.
Market analyst Daniela Hathorn at Capital.com says that is ripping up the de-escalation narrative.
“A Liberia-flagged crude tanker and a Panama-flagged VLCC have been each struck in a single day, with a separate explosion reported close to Khasab, Oman, including to a run of incidents that maritime safety trackers are nonetheless working to substantiate.
“Iran, for its part, has denied that talks with Washington have resumed at all, despite President Trump’s weekend claim that a deal to reopen the strait was in progress, calling the Iranian leadership ‘unbelievably duplicitous’ in the process.”
The internet impact is that Brent and WTI have reversed course from the weekend hole and are actually pushing larger.
“What’s notable is that equities have remained unbothered with Wall Street futures holding onto most of their in a single day features.
“It appears shares seem prepared to deal with the newest assaults as an energy-market story moderately than a growth-and-inflation story, no less than for now as earnings stay the larger driver of worth motion.
“With roughly 85% of S&P 500 companies beating estimates and aggregate profit growth tracking above 47% this season, investors have a genuine, bottom-up reason to stay invested that has nothing to do with the geopolitical backdrop.”
11.50am: Vistry tumbles as paper lays naked turnaround problem
Vistry shares have plunged 14%, greater than reversing yesterday’s 7% achieve.
It appears to be after a Telegraph article this morning – ‘How Labour’s favourite housebuilder became a ‘corporate disaster’ – highlighted the size of the issues dealing with new chief govt Adam Daniels.
The report mentioned round 20% of Vistry’s shares have been on mortgage to brief sellers, making it Britain’s most closely bet-against inventory.
It pointed to stories of subcontractors being instructed to cease work, reductions of greater than £100,000 on some houses and first-half gross sales of simply 6,100 properties.
September’s delayed half-year outcomes are expected to show a £30 million loss, the corporate not too long ago warned, saying 2026 is a transitional yr targeted on enhancing execution, producing money and lowering debt.
11.10am: FTSE amongst laggards once more
The FTSE 100 is once more among the many laggards in Europe, up 0.3% in comparison with Germany’s DAX gaining 0.5% and Italy’s FTSE MIB main with a 1.1% rise.
France’s CAC 40 and Spain’s IBEX are flat, while the pan-continental Stoxx 600 has added 0.5%.
Leading the Stoxx risers is Dutch chip gear maker BE Semiconductor, up 5.4%, while Johnson Matthey gained 5.2% after a optimistic write-up from Jefferies.
Miners have been additionally firmly in demand, with KGHM, Antofagasta and Glencore rising greater than 4%.
At the opposite finish, Zalando plunged 15.3% following a income and earnings miss for the second quarter, with the full-year outlook narrowed.
Lufthansa dropped 10.7% after its personal revenue stoop and extra cautious steering.
Vistry and Smith+Nephew are each large fallers too.
10.43am: Movers
Some movers from the mid-caps and smallers.
Shares in AG Barr misplaced 8% of their fizz after the maker of Irn-Bru revealed that provide chain failures had knocked an estimated £10 million off first-half revenue.
FIH Group has leapt 21% after putting a deal to sell its fine art logistics business Momart for £7.6 million.
Shares in Filtronic fell 10% after the radio frequency specialist reported operating profit fell to £4 million from £13.4 million, regardless of increasing its relationship with SpaceX through the yr, taking a $62.5 million order for next-generation gallium nitride E-band know-how, its largest single contract thus far.
CT Automotive Group plunged 23% after the automobile interiors provider warned that first-half profits would come in materially below final yr.
10.21am: FTSE departure lounge
Segro has agreed final terms for its takeover by Prologis, with the deal valuing it at £13.5 billion, down from nearer £14 billion when the deal was ostensibly struck final month because of actions within the US suitor’s shares and foreign exchange charges.
“Another one bites the dust,” says Garry White at Raymond James. “The rush of companies that will be exiting the UK market now risks becoming a stampede.”
Five different FTSE 100 corporations have acquired formal takeover affords within the yr thus far, he says: Beazley, Schroders, Intertek, DCC and easyJet (although the latter is on the FTSE 250 truly, Garry).
“This compares with only one FTSE 100 firm – Anglo American – that attracted substantial bid curiosity throughout 2025.
“Investors are still waiting for initial public offerings, but bidders are not hanging about. Unless the pipeline of new listings improves markedly, the London market risks becoming better known as a departure lounge than a destination.”
9.45am: UK equities are ‘4-0 up however recreation not gained,’ says UBS
UBS strategist Sutanya Chedda says UK equities are “better placed without being fully in control”, evaluating the market with England’s 4-0 lead over France within the World Cup third-place play-off.
Earnings forecasts for 2026 and 2027 fell 1% and 1.2% final month, while analyst revisions stay destructive, notably amongst small and mid-cap shares.
Fund flows are additionally nonetheless weak, while larger rates of interest proceed to weigh on domestically targeted companies.
Chedda’s monetary mannequin is flashing a restoration sign, “but it is not yet an all-clear” for home corporations, with essentially the most facvoured corporations being these in a position to soak up larger charges.
“Domestics outperformed internationally uncovered corporations over the newest month, however the FTSE 250 nonetheless carries better gilt sensitivity and draw back seize, regardless of stronger mixture stability sheets and dividend protection.
“The FTSE 100 offers global revenues and greater drawdown resilience, while the FTSE 250 offers less crowding, cheaper enterprise-value multiples and more optionality if domestic confidence broadens.”
For now, he says, “this remains a stock and theme selection call, not a mechanical shift from large caps into domestic beta”, ie inventory choosing is vital.
9.26am: Travis Perks up
Shares in Travis Perkins (LSE:TPK) have surged 15% on the again of interim outcomes that confirmed progress within the builders product owner’s turnaround.
Group income fell 1.8%, and 0.7% on a like-for-like foundation, with a 3.2% quantity decline offset by the return of worth inflation at 2.5%. Adjusted working revenue was flat as soon as property income have been stripped out.
Peel Hunt analyst Sam Cullen says: “We don’t count on materials adjustments to forecasts. The UK backdrop stays extraordinarily difficult, with depressed volumes and continued working price pressures.
“However, the business is seeing encouraging signs regarding the turnaround. Market conditions in H2 are likely to be similar to H1, though price inflation (particularly for oil derivatives) remains a key variable.”
8.58am: Calls for financial institution windfall tax to chop vitality payments
Trade unions and campaigners have seized on the timing of HSBC’s resumption of buybacks to argue there may be “now a mountain of evidence” that lenders can afford to pay extra tax.
The TUC desires larger taxes on financial institution income to fund a social tariff that may carry down family vitality payments because the battle with Iran places additional strain on costs.
Campaign group Positive Money calculated that HSBC, Barclays, Lloyds and NatWest made a mixed £29.2 billion within the first half, up 21% yr on yr.
It estimated {that a} 38% windfall tax on their UK income – matching the speed imposed on oil and fuel corporations – may elevate £19 billion this yr.
TUC normal secretary Paul Nowak mentioned larger rates of interest had introduced “mortgage misery and bigger bills” for households while banks are “rolling in it”.
Positive Money urged Andy Burnham to “break with his predecessors by resisting the demands of City lobbyists and reclaiming these lost billions with a windfall tax on bank profits”.
8.47am: HSBC buyback ‘smaller than anticipated’
HSBC shares are down 0.7% now, regardless of buybacks being resumed and a second dividend for the yr being authorised after income exceeded analyst estimates.
Explanation comes from analyst Joseph Dickerson at Jefferies, who says it was a “modestly lower buyback than we expected”, which “may underwhelm”.
But he provides: “The direction of travel for consensus estimates looks to be slightly upwards following a 6% PBT beat in Q2 with notable balance sheet growth.”
There was no consensus forecast on buybacks, although Dickerson says he anticipated $2 billion, “which seemed to align with investor expectations”, however says “the broader point is that HSBC grew loans by 5% YoY (constant fx) led by the CIB and UK business”.
With administration flagging larger variable pay within the second half and investments to seize income progress in 2027 this “should still support modest consensus earnings revisions, factoring in an incremental $500 million of cost saves”.
8.29am: HSBC to face political strain
For HSBC, the place shares are flat now, market analyst Kathleen Brooks at XTB highlights internet curiosity revenue rising by 9% as HSBC “capitalises on elevated global interest rates”.
She additionally flags that as round $2 billion of the rise in income was all the way down to one-off gadgets, “investors may worry that this will not be repeated”.
“However, profitability levels remain high, and the company expects its return on tangible equity, its main measure of profitability, to stay at 17% for this year.”
Brooks provides that the outcomes “could be clouded by calls for higher taxes” as there “is political pressure on PM Andy Burnham to tax banks more, and HSBC’s results and high profit levels could add to calls for a higher levy on the sector, which could act as a counterweight to banking stocks later on Tuesday”.
8.15am: FTSE 100 opens larger due to miners and defence
The FTSE 100 has opened within the inexperienced, up 44 factors to 10,902, due to power from miners and defence shares.
Copper miners Antofagasta and Anglo American are prime of the early risers, up 3.5% and 2.7%, with Glencore not far behind.
Defence contractors Babcock and BAE Systems are up over 2% too. Rolls-Royce is somewhat under that.
HSBC, the index’s largest firm, is up 0.4% for the time being, after its outcomes. In reality of the index’s prime 20 largest names, solely Unilever and Compass are within the purple at this second.
AstraZeneca has rebounded 1.9% after yesterday’s large fall that noticed it lose second place within the index to Shell.
Smith & Nephew is the massive faller immediately, down 6.5% after reducing its top-line steering.
8am: Smith + Nephew cuts income forecast
Smith & Nephew has cut its full-year revenue growth guidance after weak point in its US orthopaedics and wound care companies within the second quarter.
The FTSE 100 medical know-how group now expects annual income progress of round 4%, down from its earlier forecast of round 6%.
Guidance was maintained for buying and selling revenue, free money move and return on invested capital.
7.42am: BP income greater than double
BP more than doubled second-quarter profits as larger oil and fuel costs and stronger refining margins offset decrease manufacturing and elevated exploration write-offs.
Underlying substitute price revenue rose to $5.7 billion from $2.4 billion a yr earlier and $3.2 billion within the first quarter. Reported revenue attributable to shareholders elevated to $3.9 billion from $1.6 billion.
Operating money move climbed 73% yr on yr to $10.9 billion, regardless of a $1 billion working capital construct. Net debt was reduce to $22.3 billion from $25.3 billion on the finish of March, barely exceeding steering.
Unlike its bigger peer Shell, there is no such thing as a buyback, although the board upped the quarterly dividend 4% to eight.66 cents a share.
7.31am: HSBC income beat forecasts
HSBC has unveiled a contemporary $1 billion share buyback after first-half profit rose 23% to beat forecasts, supported by progress in internet curiosity revenue and its wealth enterprise.
The FTSE 100’s largest firm reported pre-tax revenue of $19.5 billion for the primary six months of 2026, up 23% from a yr earlier.
Profit for the second quarter jumped 60% to $10.1 billion, beating the consensus estimate of $9.51 billion. The leap was flattered by the $2.1 billion Bank of Communications cost taken a yr earlier.
The Asia-focused financial institution lifted anticipated credit score losses $400 million to $2.4 billion, together with expenses regarding UK fraud publicity, Hong Kong industrial property and uncertainty attributable to the Middle East battle.
FTSE 100 Live: Second try at making some August features
London shares are anticipated to open larger on Tuesday as markets construct on hopes that diplomacy may ease tensions between the US and Iran, while in firm information there are outcomes from HSBC and BP, and later the maiden numbers from SpaceX.
FTSE 100 futures are up 39 factors, pointing to a restoration after the index slipped 10.35 factors to 10,857.70 on Monday. The decline was largely because of a 9% fall for AstraZeneca.
Wall Street offered a powerful handover, with the Dow Jones rising 1.3%, the S&P 500 gaining 1.5% and the Nasdaq climbing 2.1%. Lower oil costs, stronger US manufacturing knowledge and fading issues a few hawkish Federal Reserve helped the S&P shut inside touching distance of its report excessive.
Asian markets are largely larger, led by a 0.9% rise for South Korea’s Kospi, with the Shanghai Composite up 0.5% and the Nikkei 225 gaining 0.4%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is down 0.7%.
Jim Reid at Deutsche Bank mentioned markets this week have been having fun with a uncommon mixture of “falling oil prices, lower inflation expectations, stronger growth data, declining bond yields, and rising equities all at the same time”.
After falling nearly 5% on Monday, Brent crude is up 1.2% at $84.75 a barrel this morning after Iran denied it was holding negotiations with Washington.
Other company outcomes due immediately embrace Smith & Nephew, Fresnillo, ConvaTec, Domino’s Pizza and Travis Perkins (LSE:TPK), while within the US there are earnings from AMD, Pfizer and Booking Holdings. Attention can even be on the US JOLTS job openings report, commerce figures and manufacturing facility orders.
