The FTSE 100 was trading in a holding pattern on Wednesday after a strong rally in US stocks overnight as markets paused for breath and investors geared up for the release of Nvidia results after the US bell later tonight.
London’s leading index was trading flat at the time of writing after trading in a tight range for most of the session.
Nvidia’s results have become a major event in traders’ calendars due to their importance to the AI trade that has propelled US equity market higher over the past two years. A significant beat or miss of Nvidia earnings expectations has the power to drive global equity trade, and investors are becoming increasingly wary going into the release.
“The FTSE 100 ticked higher after an increase in US consumer confidence and a delay on the punishing EU tariffs announced by the Trump administration helped US stocks to surge overnight,” said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.
“However, with US futures pointing to some retrenchment when Wall Street resumes trading later, it’s clear there is still some latent nervousness in the market.
“Quite a lot may ride on Nvidia’s results later, with investors likely to be watching the numbers and particularly the outlook closely to see what impact, if any, tariff uncertainty is having on the business.”
In the UK, there was a nearly 50:50 split between FTSE 100 gainers and losers at the time of writing, with little in the way of major movers.
Kingfisher was the top corporate story. Shares fell 2.3% after the DIY group released Q1 results that confirmed the positive impact of favourable UK weather conditions, but poor performance in France gave investors a reason to be cautious.
“There were some rays of sunshine in the first quarter for B&Q and Screwfix owner Kingfisher, with sales rising 1.8% across the group but there’s still concern about the longer-term picture,” said Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets, Hargreaves Lansdown.
“The update indicates there was strong demand for seasonal products in the UK and Ireland, even before the May heatwave took hold. This has helped boost revenues by 5.9%, sharply higher than forecasts.”
Endeavour Mining is regularly in the FTSE 100’s top losers or gainers as traders use the stock as a risk sentiment proxy. The potenital risk presented by Nvidia’s results and the general risk-off positioning sent the gold miner to the top of the leaderboard with a 1% gain.