European Shares Rise in Friday’s Session; FTSE-100 Index up by 2.82%

US Markets: Broader indices in the United States traded in green - particularly, the S&P 500 index traded 36.55 points or 1.31% higher at 2,836.10, Dow Jones Industrial Average Index expanded by 327.10 points or 1.39% higher at 23,864.78, and the technology benchmark index Nasdaq Composite traded higher at 8,576.50, up by 44.14 points or 0.52% against its previous day close (at the time of writing, before the U.S market close at 11:00 AM ET).

US News: The Wall Street surged with optimism over the potential drug for Covid-19 and reopening of the US activities. President Trump has announced a three-step plan to revive the US economy. The phase one would expect to resume movie theatres, restaurants, large sporting events and gyms provided they adhere to the strict requirement of social distancing. Among the rallied stocks, AMC Entertainment surged over 40 per cent post announcing a robust liquidity update. Boeing inclined around 11.69 per cent after announcing plans to resume production at Seattle based plant in the upcoming week. Similarly, Gilead has soared over 7.88 per cent post announcing effective clinical trials for the potential treatment of coronavirus. Shares of Planet Fitness accelerated by over 9 per cent on expectations that the fitness and gym chains will be first category to be allowed for the revival of its business operations under the President guidelines. Contrarily, Apple’s stock dropped around 1.31 per cent as Goldman Sachs has cut its ratings from “neutral” to “sell”. And, Netflix dipped about 2.52 per cent as it seems overstretched to brokers since the stock is already 50 per cent up from its lowest value in March.

S&P 500 (SPX)

Top Performers*: Citizens Financial Group Inc, TransDigm Group Inc, and PVH Corp shares increased by 11.11%, 10.75% and 10.61%, respectively.

Non Performers*: Activision Blizzard Inc, Newmont Corporations and Kroger Co shares decreased by 2.76%, 2.74% and 2.72%, respectively.

NASDAQ Composite (IXIC)

Top Performers*: Akron Inc, Genetic Technologies Ltd, and Taronis Technologies Inc shares expanded by 110.26%, 70.19% and 57.61%, respectively.

Worst Performers*: ALJ Regional Holdings Inc, MoSys Inc and Stein Mart Inc shares plunged by 34.24%, 34.12% and 30.69%, respectively.

Top Performing Sectors*: Energy (+3.38%), Industrials (+3.34%), and Financials (+3.03%).

Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI)

Top Performers*: Boeing Co, JPMorgan Chase & Co and American Express Co are the top gainers and increased by 11.57%, 5.20% and 5.04%, respectively.

Non Performers*: UnitedHealth Group Inc, Apple Inc, and Walmart Inc shares decreased by 2.49%, 1.89% and 1.40% respectively.

European Markets: The London’s broader equity benchmark index FTSE 100 traded at 158.53 points or 2.82 per cent higher at 5,786.96, the FTSE 250 index snapped at 480.72 points or 3.13 per cent higher at 15,859.29, and the FTSE All-Share Index ended 88.07 points or 2.84 per cent higher at 3,190.20 respectively. Another European equity benchmark index STOXX 600 ended up by 8.55 points or 2.63 per cent, at 333.47. Among other major European indices, DAX index closed the session at 10,625.78, up by 324.24 points or 3.15 per cent; CAC 40 index accelerated by 148.85 points or 3.42 per cent and ended the trading session at 4,499.01.

European News: London and European markets surged with the gradual restart of US activities. Moreover, the Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak has signalled to allow big companies to apply for the Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme, which is formally scheduled to be launched on 20^th April 2020. Moreover, the finance minister also stated that the furlough scheme for workers has been extended until the end of June. On the other hand, The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has asked car leasing firms to freeze the three-month payments, where the clients are facing difficulties in managing funds due to prevailing market conditions. Among the stocks, Flutter Entertainment soared over 14 per cent post announcing a resilient performance in the first-quarter trading update. Foxtons surged over 11.7 per cent post sharing status of proposal for ordinary share placement and furloughing 750 employees. Associated British Foods (ABF) shares expanded by over 3.4 per cent after eligibility criteria for Covid Corporate Financing Facility was approved. Similarly, Whitbread also soared over 8.4 per cent after confirming the access to funding from the government.

London Stock Exchange

Top Performers*: CINEWORLD GROUP PLC (CINE), TED BAKER PLC (TED) and AMIGO HOLDINGS PLC (AMGO) are top movers and rose by 25.05%, 22.21% and 17.45%, respectively.

Worst Performers*: MEDICLINIC INTERNATIONAL PLC (MDC), CONNECT GROUP PLC (CNCT) and TI FLUID SYSTEMS PLC (TIFS) plunged by 6.14%, 5.79% and 5.50%, respectively.

FTSE 100 Index

5 days FTSE 100 Index Performance (April-17-2020), before the market closed (Source: TR)

Best Gainers*: FLUTTER ENTERTAINMENT PLC (FLTR), MELROSE INDUSTRIES PLC (MRO) and INTERCONTINENTAL HOTELS GROUP PLC (IHG) expanded by 15.09%, 9.86% and 9.62%, respectively.

Non Performers*: OCADO GROUP PLC (OCDO), JUST EAT TAKEAWAY.COM N.V. (JET) and FRESNILLO PLC (FRES) plunged by 3.00%, 2.71% and 2.50%, respectively.

Shares traded with high-level volume*: (VOD) VODAFONE GROUP PLC; (GLEN) GLENCORE PLC; (BARC) BARCLAYS PLC.

Top Sectors traded in the positive zone*: Consumer Cyclicals (+4.40%), Industrials (+4.31%), and Energy (+3.88%).

Top Sector traded in the negative zone*: Technology (-0.41%).

Oil Prices*: WTI crude oil future price was nudging at $18.21 per barrel, and Brent crude oil future price was trading at $28.62 per barrel.

Forex Rates*: GBP/USD and EUR/GBP were hovering at 1.2512 and 0.8687, respectively.

Bond Yields*: U.S 10-Year Treasuries yield was tilting at 0.612%, and the UK 10-Year Government Bond yield was hovering at 0.303%, respectively.

*At the time of writing

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