Stock prices in London closed mostly higher on Thursday, as investors digested the US Federal Reserve’s decision on Wednesday to stand pat on interest rates.
In response, US President Donald Trump slammed Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell’s monetary policy on Thursday.
“Jerome ‘Too Late’ Powell again refused to cut interest rates, even though he has absolutely no reason to keep them so high,” Mr Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. The Fed actually voted 10-2 on Wednesday to keep the benchmark lending rate unchanged.
He called Powell a “moron”, adding: “The Fed should substantially lower interest rates, NOW!”
The FTSE 100 index closed up 17.33 points, 0.2%, at 10,171.76. The FTSE 250 ended down 122.19 points, 0.5%, at 23,268.44, and the AIM all-share closed down 7.17 points, 0.9%, at 824.92.
On the FTSE 250, Rank Group was down 1.0%.
Mecca bingo owner Rank Group, based in Maidenhead, Berkshire, reported £23.9 million in pre-tax profit for the six months that ended December 31, down 19% on-year. Revenue, however, rose 4.5% to £420.0 million.
Rank declared an interim dividend per share of 1.00 pence, up 54% from 0.65p, and said it expects to deliver a full-year outcome in line with expectations.
On AIM, Ashtead Technology was down 0.4%. The company, which provides subsea technology solutions to the global offshore energy sector, had earlier been in the red following US peer United Rentals’ full-year results.
United Rentals, down 11% in New York, reported annual and fourth-quarter results on Wednesday.
Quarterly sales rose 2.8% year on year to 4.21 billion US dollars, lower than analysts’ estimate of 4.24 billion dollars. Adjusted Ebitda was 1.90 billion dollars, lower than the forecast of 1.93 billion dollars.
However, its full-year guidance at the midpoint was for 17.05 billion dollars in revenue and 7.7 billion dollars in Ebitda, in line with market expectations.
International Paper Co was down 8.3% in London, and down 6.7% in New York.
The company announced plans to divide itself into two independent, publicly traded companies for North America and Europe, Middle East & Africa, a year after acquiring London-listed packaging company DS Smith.
International Paper also released its 2025 earnings, swinging to a 3.52 billion dollar net loss for the year due to the transaction and integration costs of that acquisition.
In European equities on Thursday, the CAC 40 in Paris closed up 0.1%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt ended down 2.1%.
The pound was quoted higher at 1.3797 US dollars at the time of the London equities close on Thursday, compared to 1.3778 dollars on Wednesday. The euro stood higher at 1.1950 dollars, against 1.1935 dollars. Against the Japanese yen, the dollar was trading lower at 152.87 yen compared to 153.63 yen.
Stocks in New York were lower. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.3%, the S&P 500 index 1.0% lower, and the Nasdaq Composite fell 2.0%.
Microsoft was down 12%, after reporting better than expected second quarter results on Wednesday, with revenue rising to 81.27 billion dollars (£58.9 billion), ahead of Visible Alpha consensus. However, More Personal Computing revenue declined 3% on-year to 14.3 billion dollars (£10.36 billion), and missed the 14.38 billion dollar (£10.42 billion) StreetAccount consensus.
Meta Platforms rose 7.8%, having reported better-than-expected revenue as advertising impressions, and prices per ad grew, while guidance also surprised to the upside.
Net income rose 9% to 22.77 billion dollars (£16.5 billion) in the three months to December 31 and diluted earnings per share advanced 11% to 8.88 dollars (£6.44), ahead of 8.20 dollars (£5.94) Visible Alpha consensus. Revenue jumped 24% to 59.89 billion dollars (£43.41 billion), topping 58.38 billion dollars (£42.31 billion) VA consensus.
The yield on the US 10-year Treasury was quoted at 4.24%, narrowing from 4.26%. The yield on the US 30-year Treasury was quoted unchanged at 4.87%.
Brent oil was quoted at 69.40 US dollars a barrel at the time of the London equities close on Thursday, up from 68.01 dollars late on Wednesday.
Gold was quoted lower at 5,256.30 dollars an ounce against 5,282.35 dollars.
The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were: 3i Group, up 310.9p at 3,457.9p; Anglo American, up 124.8p at 3,600.8p; Metlen Energy & Metals, up 1.3p at 47.6p; Diageo, up 43.3p at 1,665.8p; and Rio Tinto, up 169.4p at 6,920.4p.
The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were: Ashtead Group, down 297.8p at 4,814.2p; Sage, down 40.4p at 955.0p; Autotrader, down 21.6p at 535.2p; Relx, down 98.0p at 2,594.0p; and Fresnillo, down 122.5p at 3,993.5p.
On Friday’s economic calendar, there are GDP figures from France and Germany, which is also publishing CPI, unemployment and export and import price data.
Also, the US releases PPI data, and the UK has mortgage approvals.
On Friday’s UK corporate calendar, Airtel Africa releases third-quarter results.
Contributed by Alliance News