Thu March 28, 2024, 11:24 a.m. EDT
JD Sports soars 16% as trading update eases investor concerns
Shares of JD Sports were up more than 16% on Thursday after the release of a trading update that eased investor concerns after the British retailer issued a profit warning in January.
Pre-tax profit for full year 2024 is expected to be in line with the forecast range and, after the first seven weeks of the new financial year, trading is in line with expectations, the company said.
However, the business environment remains “challenging” due to additional promotions and less product innovation, JD Sports Fashion CEO Regis Schultz said in a statement.
“We expect trading conditions to improve as the year progresses, helped by a busy sporting summer and milder comparisons to last year,” he added.
—Sophie Kiderlin
Thu, March 28, 2024, 9:38 a.m. EDT
US stocks open unchanged on last trading day of the month
Thu March 28, 2024, 9:14 a.m. EDT
Markets expected to rise even if Fed opts not to cut rates this year, economist says
Steven Blitz, chief U.S. economist at TS Lombard, believes markets should continue to advance even if the Federal Reserve chooses not to cut interest rates this year.
Speaking on CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Thursday, Blitz said the prospect of a Fed rate cut or cut in 2024 was “getting pretty good.”
“It’s a very large and diverse economy and it’s a very large country. So all geographic regions and all industries in all corners of the country are not doing well. There are always leaders [and] “I’m falling behind, it’s just the nature of the beast, right?,” Blitz said.
“The job of the stock investor is to identify what is doing best, you know, where the value is, but as an economist who steps back, you say no, there’s no reason for the stock market to fall.”
Take a look at the full story here.
—Sam Meredith
Thu March 28, 2024, 8:45 a.m. EDT
Bank of England could cut rates before Fed as UK inflation slows, strategist says
Lindsay James, investment strategist at Quilter Investors, outlines the outlook for global monetary policy and stock markets.
Thu, March 28, 2024, 7:26 a.m. EDT
Strong results reflect greater underwriting discipline, says Lloyd’s of London chairman
Bruce Carnegie-Brown, chairman of insurer Lloyd’s London, talks about the company’s best financial results in years.
Thu March 28, 2024, 5:24 a.m. EDT
Italian consumer confidence falls as business confidence rises
A seller prepares a bag of sweets for a customer at the Sicilian confectionery Mazzone on February 2, 2024 in Catania, Italy.
Villa Fabrice | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Italian consumer confidence fell slightly in March, statistics agency Istat said on Thursday, bucking a broader European trend of improving confidence.
However, Italian business confidence has improved, particularly in the manufacturing and construction sectors.
Consumer price inflation in Italy is well below the euro zone average of 2.6%, standing at 0.8% year-on-year in February.
-Jenni Reid
Thu March 28, 2024, 4:43 a.m. EDT
European stocks open higher on Thursday
European stocks opened higher on Thursday and continued their gains in early trading, with the regional Stoxx 600 index up 0.2% at 8:40 a.m. in London.
Market movements have been moderate this week, but major exchanges were all in the green on Thursday morning, with Britain’s FTSE 100 and France’s CAC 40 up 0.3% while Germany’s DAX rose 0.15%. .
See the table…
Stoxx 600 index.
Thu March 28, 2024, 4:18 a.m. EDT
Employment in Germany up slightly on improving retail sales
Customers sit at tables at a street cafe on the central Roemer square in Frankfurt am Main, western Germany, February 28, 2024.
Kirill Kudryavtsev | Afp | Getty Images
The German figures released on Thursday are good news for Europe’s largest economy, which is struggling with stalled growth.
A “slight upward trend” in employment continued in February, statistics agency Destatis said, with the number of people working increasing by 14,000 last month, an increase of 0.4%. compared to the same period last year.
The business climate in the retail sector “improved significantly in March”, according to a survey by the Ifo Institute.
Retailers were more optimistic across a range of sectors, while fewer suffered from supply problems.
“The pessimism that has prevailed recently is fading. The business in the run-up to Easter has apparently brought a glimmer of hope to many retailers,” said Ifo specialist Patrick Höppner.
-Jenni Reid
Thu March 28, 2024, 3:14 a.m. EDT
UK recession confirmed by fourth quarter data
Pedestrians shelter from the rain under umbrellas as they walk past the Elizabeth Tower, commonly known as the clock bell, Big Ben, at the Palace of Westminster, home to Parliament, in London, on February 22, 2024.
Henry Nicholls | AFP | Getty Images
Britain’s economy fell into recession in the second half of last year, final data released by the Office for National Statistics confirmed on Thursday.
Gross domestic product fell an unrevised 0.3% in the fourth quarter, the ONS said, following a 0.1% contraction in the third quarter.
Output fell in the final quarter of 2023 in all three of the UK’s main sectors: services, manufacturing and construction. Net trade, household consumption and gross capital formation all declined.
-Jenni Reid
Thu March 28, 2024, 3:03 a.m. EDT
The Renault group finalizes the sale of its shares to Nissan for $387 million
The Renault and Nissan automobile logos are represented during the Brussels Motor Show on January 9, 2020 in Brussels. (Photo by KENZO TRIBOUILLARD/AFP via Getty Images)
Kenzo Tribouillard | Afp | Getty Images
The French group Renault finalized on Thursday the sale of 99,132,100 Nissan shares to the Japanese group for 358 million euros ($387 million).
The exchange of Renault’s roughly 2.5 percent stake generated an amount slightly lower than the 362 million euros Renault hoped it could bring in from the sale of more than 100 million shares.
Renault said on Thursday the cash influx would improve its net financial position, enable faster deleveraging and support its objective of returning to an investment grade rating.
Renault sold a 5% stake to Nissan in December, as it planned to reduce its stake to 15% from around 43%.
The sales come as the companies restructure their long-standing alliance.
-Jenni Reid
Wed March 27, 2024, 7:12 p.m. EDT
CNBC Pro: Is it time for investors to protect themselves against a market decline? Pros share their insights and strategies
Wed March 27, 2024, 7:10 p.m. EDT
CNBC Pro: Now that Nvidia has launched powerful AI chips, Goldman expects these 3 stocks to get a boost
Following Nvidia’s launch of powerful new artificial intelligence chips, Goldman Sachs predicts significant growth in memory chips used in AI systems.
The investment bank expects the total addressable market for HBM to increase tenfold to $23 billion by 2026, from just $2.3 billion in 2022.
The Wall Street bank sees three major memory makers as the biggest beneficiaries of the booming HBM market. Investors can buy three stocks through concentrated exchange-traded funds or diversified funds.
CNBC Pro subscribers can learn more here.
-Ganesh Rao
Wed, April 17, 2024, 11:45 p.m. EDT
European markets: here are the opening calls
European markets are expected to open mixed on Thursday.
Britain’s FTSE 100 index is expected to open 17 points higher at 7,872, Germany’s DAX up 5 points at 17,789, France’s CAC down 10 points at 7,983 and Italy’s FTSE MIB down 8 points to 32,963, according to IG data.
Profits are expected to come from Nokia, Easyjet and ABB. The data released includes new European car registration figures for March.
—Houx Ellyatt