Lunchtime market roundup: Stocks up as oil falls, bond market calms

Stock prices in Europe were boosted on Tuesday by a fall in the oil price, which eased inflation worries, meanwhile, nerves over the French fiscal situation abated.

The FTSE 100 index climbed 53.50 points, 0.5%, at 10,551.44 midday Tuesday. The FTSE 250 added 122.00 points, 0.5%, at 24,245.75, and the AIM all-share rose 2.33 points, 0.3%, at 782.64.

The Cboe UK 100 added 0.6% at 1,047.86, the Cboe UK 250 was up 0.6% at 21,094.74, and the Cboe small companies was flat at 18,909.23.

In European equities on Tuesday, the CAC 40 in Paris and the DAX 40 in Frankfurt were each 0.6% higher.

In New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is called up 0.4%, and the S&P 500 up 0.2%. The Nasdaq Composite is called up 0.4%.

The yield on the US 10-year Treasury was quoted at 5.27%, narrowing from 5.33% at the time of the London equities close on Monday. The yield on the US 30-year Treasury was quoted at 5.63%, cooling from 5.68%.

Remarks from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent took some sting out of yields, analysts at Brown Brothers Harriman noted.

"Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent attempted to jawbone the long-end of the yield curve after 10-year Treasury yields surged to 5.34% yesterday, the highest since April 2002. Bessent said 'I think we're going to see this past quarter, third quarter, we grew well in excess of 3% — and I think we can consistently do that…Then, what is important is the debt-to-GDP, and we will start bending that curve and bringing it down…I think it could happen very, very quickly'," BBH analysts noted.

In Europe, government bond prices also picked up, BBH analysts added. Bond prices move inversely to yields.

French far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen said Tuesday that she would implement EUR140 billion in cost savings by 2032 if elected next year, warning that without change France was "heading towards default" on its debt.

Euro weakness amid fiscal nerves in France was a focus on Monday, though the single currency recovered some ground on Tuesday morning. The euro bought USD1.1242 Tuesday, up from USD1.1193 at the time of the London equities close on Monday. Sterling traded at EUR1.1777, down from EUR1.1792.

Against the dollar, the pound was up at USD1.3247 from USD1.3218. The dollar bought JPY158.21, up from JPY157.99.

A barrel of Brent eased to USD98.56 midday Tuesday from USD102.32 late Monday afternoon. Gold traded at USD4,159.31 an ounce, up from USD4,137.43.

Aided by weaker oil prices, which cool inflation worries, housebuilders and property investors moved higher. LondonMetric added 1.5%, while Barratt Redrow climbed 1.0%.

Informa added 2.7%. It said it was raising £940 million to part-fund a £2.24 billion acquisition of Clarion Events, and it eyes separating academic business Taylor & Francis, as it focuses on its business-to-business operation.

"Today's announcements mark the latest step in a growth strategy that has seen B2B revenues grow tenfold since 2014," explained Chief Executive Stephen Carter.

The business information and exhibitions group said it is buying Clarion, the UK-based owner of more than 100 B2B live event brands, from New York asset manager Blackstone.

The acquisition will be funded through a mixture of committed acquisition financing and the proceeds of a £940 million placing.

The share placing, around 9% of Informa's share capital, will be via an accelerated bookbuild, launched Tuesday. The price per share and final number of shares to be placed will be decided at bookbuild close. There will also be a separate offer to retail investors via the RetailBook platform.

Further, Informa said it intends to separate its Academic Markets business, Taylor & Francis, to focus on its core B2B business.

Informa said it has launched a separation process to review all options that will best support the business going forward. The outcomes of the review will be provided alongside Informa's 2026 full year results next March.

BAE Systems fell 2.8%. UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham is considering delaying a decision about when the government will increase defence spending until the autumn of next year in the hope that Britain's economy improves, The Times reported.

The government had been expected to hold the spending review, which would set out a timetable for increasing defence spending to 3% of GDP, in the spring. The review will set out plans for all government spending up until 2030.

However, The Times suggested ministers are now considering delaying the review so it can take place alongside the next budget, enabling the government to raise taxes or cut spending to fund the increase. Hitting the Nato defence spending target would cost an extra £10 billion a year.

Citing a Whitehall source, the report said the 'working assumption' was that the spending review would be pushed back until next October, pointing to the decision by Rachel Reeves to hold only one fiscal event a year.

A government source told The Times it would be wrong to characterise it as a delay as ministers had never set a date for the spending review.

Asos shares slumped 8.6%.

Users of the online fashion retailer's app received a push notification titled "ASOS HACKED". The notification said hackers had "fully compromised the Snowflake instance", which is a data management cloud service.

"Engage with us, or we will leak it," the hackers threatened.

Elsewhere in London, Kenmare shares rose 28%. It has received a cash takeover proposal from Abu Dhabi-based International Resources Holdings RSC. The mining company, which operates the Moma titanium minerals mine in Mozambique, said talks with IRH are ongoing and there is no certainty that a firm offer will be made.

IRH has until November 17 to announce whether or not it plans to make a formal offer.

"Despite the high-profile status of the Moma mine, Kenmare is only a small company in size, it has substantial debts, and demand for its products is cyclical. That makes for a rocky ride for shareholders. The latest bid looks opportunistic but also potentially credible. International Resources Holdings is the latest suitor with a cash proposal confirmed by Kenmare. This is an Abu Dhabi-based 'mine to market' investment group with copper assets in Zambia and a variety of trading and technical services. IRH has bold ambitions to be a major player in the mining sector and is backed by USD216 billion Abu Dhabi conglomerate IHC. That suggests deep pockets to finally get a deal done on Kenmare," AJ Bell analyst Dan Coatsworth commented.

Still to come on Tuesday is US trade data at 1330 BST.

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