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(Alliance News) - Stock prices were rallying on Monday, as countries around the world - with the notable exception so far of the UK - made moves to remove lockdown restrictions.
For financial markets, there is a busy end-of-month week ahead of company earnings reports and central bank decisions.
In the US, there are earnings from drugmakers Merck and Pfizer on Tuesday, as well as Google-owner Alphabet and coffee chain Starbucks. This will be followed by tech firms Facebook and Microsoft and plane maker Boeing on Wednesday, iPhone maker Apple and online retailer Amazon.com on Thursday, and oil majors Exxon and Chevron on Friday.
Ahead in the UK calendar this week, bank earnings season gets underway, with first-quarter results from HSBC on Tuesday, Barclays on Wednesday, Lloyds Banking on Thursday, and Royal Bank of Scotland on Friday.
Following the Bank of Japan's meeting on Monday, there are interest rate decisions from the US Federal Reserve on Wednesday and the European Central Bank on Thursday.
Here is what you need to know at the London market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: up 1.1% at 5,818.08
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Hang Seng: up 1.8% at 24,270.40
Nikkei 225: closed up 2.7% at 19,783.22
DJIA: closed up 260.01 points, 1.1%, at 23,775.27
S&P 500: closed up 1.4% at 2,836.74
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GBP: up at USD1.2439 (USD1.2333)
EUR: up at USD1.0851 (USD1.0801)
Gold: down at USD1,719.24 per ounce (USD1,721.60)
Oil (Brent): down at USD20.35 a barrel (USD21.15)
(changes since previous London equities close)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Monday's Key Economic Events still to come
none
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Boris Johnson is back in Downing Street, having returned to take charge of the UK government's response to the coronavirus outbreak. The prime minister is resuming full-time duties at the head of the government three weeks after he was hospitalised with the disease. He will chair the regular morning meeting of the government's Covid-19 "war cabinet" before heading into a series of meetings with senior ministers and officials. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab – who has been deputising for him in his absence – said he was "raring to go" after a fortnight convalescing at Chequers, his official country residence. He arrived back on Sunday evening to a growing clamour from senior Tories to begin lifting the lockdown amid mounting concern at the damage it is causing to the economy.
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Raab has rejected fresh calls for an early easing of the coronavirus lockdown, saying the outbreak was still at a "delicate and dangerous" stage. The government is coming under intense pressure from senior Tories to relax the strict social-distancing measures. But Raab said the government would proceed "cautiously" in order to avoid a second peak in the outbreak. "We are at a delicate and dangerous stage," he told Sky News's Sophy Ridge on Sunday programme. "We need to make sure that the next steps are sure-footed, which is why we are proceeding very cautiously and we are sticking to the scientific advice with the social-distancing measures at this time, whilst doing all the homework to make sure that we are prepared in due course for the next phase."
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New York, which has ground to a halt to stop the coronavirus pandemic, may start reopening manufacturing and construction after May 15, Governor Andrew Cuomo said Sunday. Cuomo, however, said that any easing of measures would take place first in the north of the state and not in the New York City metropolitan region, by far the hardest-hit area in the US. He said that any potential reopening of New York City, the country's most populous city, could need to be coordinated with authorities in the adjacent states of New Jersey and Connecticut. A lockdown of New York ordered by Cuomo is set to expire on May 15. Under a plan for reopening, the first sectors would be construction and manufacturing.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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GOLDMAN SACHS CUTS MELROSE INDUSTRIES TO 'NEUTRAL' ('BUY') - TARGET 100 (130) PENCE
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JEFFERIES CUTS CLOSE BROTHERS TO 'UNDERPERFORM' ('HOLD') - TARGET 800 (1410) PENCE
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BARCLAYS RESUMES IG GROUP WITH 'OVERWEIGHT' - TARGET 860 PENCE
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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Ashtead Group said the lockdowns imposed by governments to stop the spread of Covid-19 has put pressure on its end-markets. The company, which generates a bulk of its revenue in the US, said rental-only revenue for Sunbelt US in March was 2% higher than the prior year, but it expects April US rental-only revenue to be 15% lower than April 2019. Ashtead that said since April 10, it has seen the level of US fleet on rent stabilise and show a modest improvement. This positive trend follows a period of consistent decline over the previous four weeks. This recent trend in fleet on rent is similar in its UK and Canadian businesses, the company added. As such, Ashtead expects underlying profit for financial 2020, ending on Thursday, to be around GBP1.05 billion. In financial 2019, underlying profit was GBP1.11 billion.
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InterContinental Hotels Group said it expects to report that revenue per available room fell 25% in the first-quarter due to travel restrictions and lockdowns in response to the coronavirus pandemic. RevPAR is a key metric used in the hotel industry. IHG said trading in Greater China continues to steadily improve, with only 12 out of 470 hotels now closed. In the US, 10% of hotels are currently closed, demonstrating "the resilience of our mainstream, franchised business". In Europe Middle East Africa and Asia, 50% of hotels are closed. In addition, IHG said the Bank of England has also now confirmed IHG as an eligible issuer for the UK government's Covid Corporate Financing Facility, and IHG has issued GBP600 million in commercial paper under this facility. IHG said it now has access to USD1.35 billion of cash on deposit and existing bank facilities are currently USD660 million undrawn, taking total available liquidity to USD2 billion.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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Redrow said it will start to reopen building sites from May 11 and make a phased restart of construction on May 18. The housebuilder added that net reservations have been running at "very low levels" since the lockdown was imposed and net debt at the end of June is now expected to be GBP200 million.
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Monday's Shareholder Meetings
Hostelworld Group
Simplybiz Group
Watchstone Group (re cash return)
Merchants Trust (re issue of share capital)
Safestyle UK (re placing)
Polymetal International
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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com
Copyright 2020 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
