Finance and Business update 1
The FTSE 100 lost 69 basis points last week amid stronger sterling and disappointing company results.
RBS and IAG both dropped by 4.5 and 5.5 percent last Friday. Despite the optimistic news, investors seem to be choosing to focus on the negatives.
Bookmaker William Hill, on the other hand, managed to climb out of a crater after news it had swung to a £75m pre-tax loss in 2017 compared to a profit of £181m the year before saw the shares get bombed out in early trading.
As for European markets, we noticed modest weekly advances for both the CAC 40 and the DAX after the rebound during week 6.
Meanwhile, most of the major American indices ended the holiday-shortened week with modest gains. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index performed best gaining 97.92 helped by strength in semiconductor stocks earlier last week. Better-than-expected results from Hewlett-Packard gave a further boost to tech shares on Friday. Utilities and materials stocks also performed well, while real estate shares lagged. Consumer staples shares also underperformed, after frightened investors sent Walmart’s share price down 10% as it announced that its online sales have considerably gone down in a sector which has grown by 23% last quarter in the United States.
My “Coup de Coeur” stock for about a year was Glencore, the mining and commodities trading company. It extracts metals and minerals such as copper and cobalt which are essential components for EV batteries, as the demand for these soared, the company’s net profits increased to $5.8bn, consequently, it announced a big payout to shareholders.
Ford’s president for North America, Raj Nair, is leaving the company immediately after an internal investigation found his behaviour was “inconsistent with the company’s code of conduct”. Ford did not give any details on what that behaviour entailed. A company spokesman said the review was launched in the past few weeks after Ford received a report of inappropriate behaviour. Raj Nair has worked for the giant carmaker for three decades.
As KFC stores nationwide continue to suffer a shortage of poultry, 629 of them had to shut their doors. The issue mainly lies in the worldwide fast food chain’s new logistics contractor, DHL, which is failing to deliver the poultry. As a big fan of the chain, I was happy to enjoy it after moving to the UK, meanwhile, the first KFC in Tunisia just opened its doors within a 5-minute drive from my house, I guess that if this situation worsens I might regret my decision to come here in the first place!
