The European Central Bank will meet on Thursday with analysts expecting policymakers to announce a 25 basis point rate hike. The FTSE was down on Monday. Photo: Boris Roessler/DPA

European stocks and the FTSE 100 opened in the red on Monday as investors positioned themselves for a big week of data, earnings reports, and central bank decisions.

The US Federal Reserve will meet on Wednesday with investors anticipating a quarter percentage point hike, while the European Central Bank (ECB) will meet on Thursday with analysts also expecting policymakers to announce a 25 basis point rate hike. A decision by the Bank of Japan (BoJ) in the latter part of the week will also be closely monitored.

The FTSE 100 (^FTSE) opened down 0.23% at 7,645.02 points. The CAC 40 (^FCHI) in Paris fell 0.38% to 7,406.10 points, while in Germany the DAX (^GDAXI) declined 0.19% to 7,406.10 points.

“It is widely anticipated that the action taken by these banks is bound to bring significant volatility not only in their respective currencies but also in their equity markets as well,” Naeem Aslam, chief investment officer at Zaye Capital Markets, said.

US And Asia

In the US, Wall Street closed mixed on Friday as stocks found some stability after sliding the day before.

The Dow Jones (^DJI) rose 0.01% to 35,227.69 points, the S&P 500 (^GSPC) gained 0.03% to 4,536.34 points, while the tech-heavy NASDAQ (^IXIC) declined 0.22% to 14,032.81.

This week, all eyes will be on earnings from Alphabet (GOOG), Airbus (AIR.PA), AT&T (T), Chevron (CVX), Exxon (XOM), Ford (F), General Electric (GE), General Motors (GM), GDK, Intel (INTC), Mastercard (MA), McDonald's (MCD), Meta (META), Microsoft (MSFT), Samsung (005930.KS), Verizon (VZ), and Visa (V).

In Asia, markets were mixed overnight while the Nikkei 225 (^N225) was the standout performer. It closed up 1.23% to 32,391.26 points, while the Hang Seng (^HSI) in Hong Kong declined 2.45% to 18,607.73. In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite (000001.SS) fell by 0.14% to 3,163.21 points.

Pound

The pound to dollar exchange rate (GBPUSD=X) was trading up at 1.28, meaning £1 will get you $1.28. Meanwhile, the pound to euro exchange rate (GBPEUR=X) was at 1.15.

Oil prices

In commodities, oil prices fell in early trade on Monday as investors await interest rate decisions from central banks this week.

US crude oil, or West Texas Intermediate (CL=F), lost 0.53% to trade at $76.66 (£59.66) a barrel, while Brent crude (BZ=F) fell 0.56% to $80.62 a barrel.

Corporate highlights

Vodafone (VOD.L) said in a trading update that first-quarter (Q1) revenue fell by 4.8%, although organic growth recovered to 3.7%, while full-year guidance has been left unchanged.

Cranswick (CWK.L) reported strong trading for the opening of its new financial year with revenue up 14.7% compared to the same period a year earlier. The group said it also expects performance for the year to be ahead of forecasts.

Elsewhere, Moneysupermarket.com (MONY.L) said that revenue was up 11% for the first half to £213.8m, while post-tax profit was 22% higher at £41m. The dividend was raised by 3% to 3.2p per share while its full-year performance is now expected to be towards the upper end of forecasts.

Ryanair (RYA.IR) and Philips (PHG) also reported results on Monday. Ryanair said profit after tax came in at €663m for the three months to the end of June, nearly four times higher than in the previous year and above its previous record for the quarter of €397m in 2017.

Philips, meanwhile, said group sales increased to €4.5bn, with 9% comparable sales growth. It said income from operations amounted to €221m, compared to €11m in Q2 2022. The company also lifted its outlook for 2023.

On Tuesday, we will hear from Unilever (ULVR.L), Deutsche Boerse (DB1.DE), Alstom (ALSO.VI), Spotify (SPOT), Alphabet, Microsoft, Visa, General Motors, Verizon and Snap (SNAP).

On Wednesday, British American Tobacco (BATS.L), Rio Tinto (RIO.L), Lloyds (LLOY.L), GSK, Just Eat Takeaway, Stellantis, Carrefour, Deutsche Bank, Airbus, Boeing, Coca-Cola, and AT&T will all be reporting earnings.

On Thursday, it will be the turn of BT, Shell, Barclays, TotalEnergies, Volkswagen, Nestle, Intel, Ford, and McDonalds. Lastly, more will follow on Friday from AstraZeneca, Standard Chartered, NatWest, IAG, Air France-KLM, Sanofi, Chevron, and Procter & Gamble.

Economic data

Investors will also be digesting a raft of economic data releases today.

More to follow…

Watch: Buy Nvidia and Meta, Sell Home Depot and Exxon: Strategist's stock tradesNVDA) and Meta, Sell retailer Home Depot (HD) and oil producer Exxon Mobil (XOM).
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Rhind referenced Nvidia as the \"poster for AI exposure\" in a note he wrote. Nvidia shares continue to reach all-time highs in 2023, rising 200% year-to-date. Meta is another tech stock investing in artificial intelligence. Rhind specifies that AI is \"real\" and that it's proving to not just be \"a short-term hype where people got in and in six months time have forgotten all about it.\"
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U.S. home sales are stalling as housing prices climb higher, which is why Rhind wants to shy away from home improvement retailer Home Depot. New homes may be selling, but homeowners locked into mortgages are not spending as much on home repair as they were during the \"big reshuffle\" from pandemic spending trends. Lastly, Rhind finds there to be geopolitical and environmental concerns tied to how much higher energy company Exxon Mobil may climb. He compares it to the post-pandemic nature of tech stocks, which have a lot more room to decline as COVID-era market conditions begin to settle down.","thumbnailUrl":"https://s.yimg.com/uu/api/res/1.2/v9q2izYQCcF8PYYOD2NDCw--~B/aD0yNjgzO3c9NDc2NTthcHBpZD15dGFjaHlvbg--/https://s.yimg.com/os/creatr-uploaded-images/2023-07/bf7c0b40-2801-11ee-875f-eb31af50b607","uploadDate":"2023-07-21T20:04:21Z","duration":"PT6M22S","contentUrl":"https://video.media.yql.yahoo.com/v1/video/sapi/hlsstreams/f494680f-3378-3fb7-8850-f73b2f1b376a.m3u8?site=finance®ion=GB&lang=en-GB&devtype=smartphone&src=sapi","embedUrl":"https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/video/buy-nvidia-meta-sell-home-200421568.html?format=embed","identifier":"f494680f-3378-3fb7-8850-f73b2f1b376a"}