Stocks rise as positive corporate results offset drop in European electric car sales

An easyJet Airbus 320 landing At Innsbruck Kranebitten airport. Kranebitten Airport, is the largest international airport in Tyrol in western Austria. It is located approximately 4 kilometres from the centre of Innsbruck. The airport handles about 1.100.000 passangers, most of them in winter season,. (Photo by Fabrizio Gandolfo/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images) — Airline stocks rallied in London on easyJet update, which lead the gains on the FTSE 100. (SOPA Images via Getty Images)

The FTSE 100 (^FTSE) and European stocks were higher on Thursday as a string of strong corporate results offset news that sales of electric cars across the European Union tumbled by over 11% last month.

New figures from the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) reported this morning that new car registrations fell for the first time this year in March, dropping by 5.2% to around one million units.

However, investors cheered news from the likes of easyJet (EZJ.L) which boosted other airline stocks after it cut losses despite taking a £40m hit from the Middle East conflict.

Traders will later be watching out for comments later today from Bank of England policymaker Megan Greene to gauge the outlook on interest rates.

London’s benchmark index was 0.6% higher in early trade
Germany’s DAX (^GDAXI) rose 0.2% and the CAC (^FCHI) in Paris headed 0.6% into the green
The pan-European STOXX 600 (^STOXX) was up 0.3%
Wall Street is set to open higher as S&P 500 futures (ES=F), Dow futures (YM=F) and Nasdaq futures (NQ=F) were all in the green
EasyJet cuts winter losses by more than £50m
The pound (GBPUSD=X) was up 0.2% against the dollar at 1.2478

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Thu, 18 April 2024 at 9:21 am BST

Electric vehicle sales fall in Europe

File photo dated 08/03/22 of a Tesla electric vehicle being charged in Hayes, west London. Households with insulation and clean tech such as heat pumps and electric cars are more (John Walton, PA Images)

Electric vehicle sales tumbled in Europe last month with demand particularly drying up in Germany.

According to the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association, sales of battery-powered cars dropped 11.3% to 134,397 units, whilst sales in Europe’s largest economy fell 28.9%.

New car registrations fell for the first time this year during the month, dropping by 5.2% to around one million units.

The timing of the Easter holidays negatively impacted sales, ACEA said, with petrol sales down 10.2% and diesel registrations declining by 18.5%.

However, hybrid-electric car registrations rose by 12.6%.

🚨 BREAKING 🚨

📊 🚗 European car sales figures for March are fresh off the press!

📈 Year-on-year new EU car sales decreased by 5.2%. This marks the first decline in car sales of the year

🔋 The #batteryelectric market share slipped to a 13% share from last year’s 13.9%

⛽… pic.twitter.com/EK4ON7Vnky

— ACEA (@ACEA_auto) April 18, 2024
Thu, 18 April 2024 at 8:49 am BST

Asia and US stocks

Stocks in Asia advanced overnight despite a fall in technology stocks on Wall Street.

The Nikkei (^N225) rose 0.3% on the day in Japan, while the Hang Seng (^HSI) rose 1% in Hong Kong. The Shanghai Composite (000001.SS) was 0.1% up by the end of the session.

Across the pond, the S&P 500’s (^GSPC) suffered its worse losing streak since the start of the year, losing 0.6% to 5,022.21.

The Dow Jones (^DJI) fell 0.1% to 37,753.31, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index (^IXIC) dropped 1.2% to 15,683.37.

Elsewhere, the yield on benchmark 10-year US Treasury bonds dropped to 4.58%, from 4.66% late on Tuesday.
Thu, 18 April 2024 at 8:32 am BST
Coming up…

Good morning, and welcome to our live markets blog. Be sure to stay tuned to stay updated with what’s happening across the global economy, and what’s moving markets.

Here’s a quick look at what’s on the agenda for today.

7am: Trading updates: Nokia, Centamin, Dunelm, AJ Bell, Rentokil

7am: EU car sales for March

8am: EU Current Account

10am: Eurozone construction output for February

1.30pm: US weekly jobless data