easyJet Share News (EZJ)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Stocks in London were higher at midday on Friday, after positive first-quarter results from HSBC Holdings, though attention now will shift to the US jobs report for April later in this afternoon. The FTSE 100 was up 55.15 points, at 0.8% at 7,406.46. The FTSE 250 index was up 49.60 points, or 0.3%, at 19,736.20, while the AIM All-Share was up 0.1% at 968.76.The Cboe UK 100 index was up 0.8% at 12,562.46. The Cboe UK 250 was up 0.3% at 17,710.19. The Cboe UK Small Companies was up 0.2% at 11,777.56.In Paris the CAC 40 was up 0.2%, while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt was up 0.3%.Stocks in New York were set for a higher open on Friday, ahead of the US jobs report for April at 1330 BST.The DJIA was called up 0.2%, the S&P 500 index up 0.3% and the Nasdaq Composite up 0.5%.The nonfarm payroll figure is expected to show the US economy added 185,000 jobs in April, following the addition of 196,000 jobs in March. The headline unemployment rate is expected to remain steady at 3.8% for April. On the London Stock Exchange, HSBC was the best blue-chip performer, up 2.9% after the Asia-focused bank reported strong first-quarter results, driven by its Retail Banking & Wealth Management and Commercial Banking businesses.For the three months ended March, pretax profit rose 30% to USD6.21 billion from USD4.76 billion the year prior. Excluding the impact of currency translation, pretax profit rose 9.5% on the year before.The lender's revenue increased 14% in the first quarter to USD14.43 billion from USD12.70 billion the year before. Revenue performance was driven by strong growth in all of HSBC's three main global businesses."Europe's biggest bank rounds off a decidedly mixed first-quarter reporting season for its sector with something of a flourish. HSBC's adjusted pretax profit has come in comfortably ahead of consensus forecasts," said AJ Bell Investment Director Russ Mould.HSBC is London's second biggest listing by market capitalisation, behind oil major Royal Dutch Shell. Anglo American was up 2.2% after the miner was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral by Credit Suisse. At the other end of the large cap index, budget airline easyJet and British Airways parent International Consolidated Airlines Group were the worst performer, down 2.1% and 2.0% respectively, following disappointing results from French peer Air France-KLM.Air France-KLM reported a net loss for the first quarter that widened from last year, reflecting unit revenue pressure and higher fuel costs that more than offset a decrease in unit costs. For the first quarter, net loss widened to EUR320 million from EUR269 million euros last year.Shares in the Franco-Dutch airline were down 4.2% in Paris. Direct Line Insurance was 1.9% lower after the insurer was cut to Neutral from Buy by UBS. The pound was quoted at USD1.2993 at midday, down from USD1.3034 at the London equities close Thursday. Forex.com analyst Fawad Razaqzada commented: "Cable's losses over the past two days have been due mainly to a rebound in dollar than weakness in pound. The market was positioned for a more doveish FOMC on Wednesday but as this was not the case - with the Fed Chair Jay Powell merely reiterating the central bank's data-dependent stance - the dollar bears have rushed for the exits with the implied odds of a 2019 US interest rate cut going to around 50% from around 75% it reached at one point on Wednesday. "Thus, if we get a stronger-than-expected US jobs report today, then this could help to accelerate the dollar's rally and lead to a decisive breakdown in the GBP/USD. Conversely, a very poor set of figures today could derail the buck's rally once and for all."The UK's dominant services sector returned to growth in April after contracting in March, the latest purchasing managers' index survey from IHS Markit showed. The seasonally adjusted IHS Markit-CIPS UK Services PMI Business Activity Index showed a score of 50.4 in April, up from March's 32-month low of 48.9 and just about in line with consensus estimates of 50.5. The score went back above the line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.In political news, voters have vented their frustration at the UK's two main parties over the continuing Brexit deadlock as both the Tories and Labour suffered losses in the English council elections. Conservatives shed more than 425 seats and 17 councils in early results, with voters apparently expressing frustration at the government's failure to deliver Brexit as promised on March 29. There were calls from Tory MPs for UK Prime Minister Theresa May's removal as leader, with senior Brexiteer Bernard Jenkin warning that the party would be "toast" unless it "mends its ways pretty quickly". Labour also struggled in the council elections, losing seats at a point in the electoral cycle when they could expect to be making significant gains at the expense of the government. Shadow chancellor John McDonnell said voters were telling the party "Brexit - sort it", adding: "Message received". City Index analyst Fiona Cincotta said: "London stocks were largely unperturbed by the results as clearly bigger decisions await between now and October. HSBC took the lead among the gainers, having reported an increase in pretax profit and rising income from its Asian operations. Miners, resources companies and other financials were also among the top risers."The euro stood at USD1.1158 at midday, lower than USD1.1182 at the European equities close Thursday. Eurozone's consumer price inflation accelerated by more-than-expected in April to its highest level in five months, led by higher energy prices and services costs, preliminary data from Eurostat showed.The consumer price index rose 1.7% year-on-year following a 1.4% increase in March. Economists had forecast 1.6% inflation.Core inflation, which excludes prices of energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, climbed to 1.2% from 0.8%. Economists had expected 1% inflation.