US and European Equities Rally in Wednesday’s Session; FTSE-100 Index up by 1.08%

US Markets: Broader indices in the United States traded in green - particularly, the S&P 500 index traded 56.40 points or 1.93 per cent higher at 2,979.34, Dow Jones Industrial Average Index expanded by 432.19 points or 1.79 per cent higher at 24,639.05, and the technology benchmark index Nasdaq Composite traded higher at 9,387.75, up by 202.65 points or 2.21 per cent against its previous day close (at the time of writing, before the U.S market close at 11:30 AM ET).

US News: Wall Street surged on Wednesday with encouraging quarterly updates. Meanwhile, the US crude oil prices soared over 3 per cent. Also, the US Mortgage Rates plummeted 3.41 per cent last week (as per the Mortgage Bankers Association). Among the stocks, Analog Devices and Lowe's surged by over 7.3 per cent and 1.8 per cent, respectively post reporting better first-quarter earnings than expected. Following the oil price surge, Exxon Mobil rose around 3.2 per cent. Halliburton jumped over 5 per cent as they reported measures to preserve liquidity. Among the decliners, Royal Caribbean Cruises plunged over 2.1 per cent post reporting wider than anticipated first-quarter losses. Luckin Coffee crashed over 36.7 per cent as they began trading after a month.

S&P 500 (SPX)

Top three Performers*: Analog Devices Inc, TechnipFMC PLC, and Albemarle Corp shares increased by 7.23 per cent, 7.16 per cent and 7.07 per cent, respectively.

Three Non-Performers*: L Brands Inc, Paycom Software Inc and Becton Dickinson and Co shares decreased by 4.64 per cent, 3.00 per cent and 2.48 per cent, respectively.

NASDAQ Composite (IXIC)

Top Three Performers*: Phunware Inc, China Ceramics Co Ltd and China HGS Real Estate Inc shares expanded by 324.07 per cent, 105.32 per cent and 85.38 per cent, respectively.

Three Worst Performers*: Luckin Coffee Inc, Socket Mobile Inc and ShiftPixy Inc shares plunged by 36.45 per cent, 18.80 per cent and 16.41 per cent, respectively.

Top Performing Sectors*: Energy (+3.53 per cent), Industrials (+2.78 per cent), and Financials (+2.58 per cent).

Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI)

Top Three Performers*: Caterpillar Inc, JPMorgan Chase & Co and Intel Corp shares climbed by around 4.36 per cent, 4.06 per cent and 3.75 per cent, respectively.

Non Performer*: Home Depot Inc shares decreased by 0.85 per cent.

European Markets: The London’s broader equity benchmark index FTSE 100 traded at 64.93 points or 1.08 per cent higher at 6,067.16, the FTSE 250 index snapped at 47.40 points or 0.29 per cent higher at 16,367.48, and the FTSE All-Share Index ended 31.12 points or 0.94 per cent higher at 3,333.86, respectively. Another European index STOXX 600 was up by 3.33 points or 0.98 per cent, at 342.82. Among other major European indices, DAX index closed the session at 11,223.71, up by 148.42 points or 1.34 per cent; CAC 40 index surged by 38.82 points or 0.87 per cent and ended the trading session at 4,496.98.

European News: London and European markets showed a mixed response initially, albeit the European indices surged later. Adjacently, the UK’s inflation rate dipped to its lowest since August 2016, while investors are enduring another set of dampened quarterly updates. Meanwhile, as per the British Chambers of Commerce, one-third of the British Companies can fully reopen by following the government guidance regarding COVID. Among the gaining stocks, Rolls-Royce rose over 5.4 per cent after it proposed major reorganisations. Playtech surged over 9.0 per cent after reporting an increased first-quarter profit. Similarly, Marks & Spencer Group grew over 4.5 per cent as they plan to accelerate the turnaround programme. Gfinity surged over 13.9 per cent post signing a multi-year agreement with Formula 1. Among the decliners, Vistry Group fell around 3.2 per cent as it plans further job cuts.

London Stock Exchange

Top Three Performers*: LAMPRELL PLC (LAM), HYVE GROUP PLC (HYVE) and PHAROS ENERGY PLC (PHAR) accelerated significantly by 71.55 per cent, 12.93 per cent and 12.34 per cent, respectively.

Worst Performers*: TOWN CENTRE SECURITIES PLC (TOWN), SQN ASSET FINANCE INCOME FUND LTD (SQN) and EDISTON PROPERTY INVESTMENT COMPANY (EPIC) plunged by 11.01 per cent, 8.33 per cent and 7.87 per cent, respectively.

FTSE 100 Index Performance

3 months FTSE 100 Index Performance (May-20-2020), before the market closed (Source: Refinitiv, Thomson Reuters)

Best Gainers*: EXPERIAN PLC (EXPN), DCC PLC (DCC) and RIGHTMOVE PLC (RMV) expanded by 6.78 per cent, 4.41 per cent and 4.17 per cent, respectively.

Non Performers*: BERKELEY GROUP HOLDINGS (THE) PLC (BKG), TAYLOR WIMPEY PLC (TW.) and LAND SECURITIES GROUP PLC (LAND) traded in red zone and decreased by 5.29 per cent, 5.26 per cent and 4.55 per cent, respectively.

Active Three Stocks (traded with high volume)*: (VOD) VODAFONE GROUP PLC; (LLOY) LLOYDS BANKING GROUP PLC; (BP) BP PLC.

Top Sectors traded in the positive zone*: Industrials (+2.38 per cent), Energy (+1.99 per cent), and Healthcare (+1.30 per cent).

Top Sectors traded in the negative zone*: Consumer Cyclicals (-0.53 per cent), Telecommunications Services (-0.16 per cent), and Consumer Non-Cyclicals (-0.06 per cent).

Crude Oil Prices*: WTI crude oil (future) price was hovering at $32.91 per barrel, and Brent future crude oil (future) price was trading at $35.31 per barrel.

Forex Rates*: GBP to USD was trading at 1.2230, while EUR to GBP was hovering at 0.8975.

Bond Yields*: U.S 10-Year Treasury yield was hovering at 0.692 per cent, and the UK 10-Year Government Bond yield was tilting at 0.228 per cent, respectively.

*At the time of writing