Spreadex Market Update

UK GDP in focus as Apple impresses and BP does better than expected




Despite last quarter’s figure being revised up to 0.6% from the initial 0.5%, this is still a steady downward slide from the 0.9% highs of last October. Forecasts are suggesting a return to a limp 0.5% for the first 3 months of 2015; not great news for a Conservative party whose election trump card has so far been the recovering economy. Unsurprisingly, these dour predictions led to a flat-to-negative open for the FTSE as investors wait and see what the GDP figure actually is.

BP fired the first oil earnings shot this morning as it revealed its Q1 2015 figures. A substantial decline to profits of $2.13 billion from $3.5 billion this time last year would cause stomach-flips for even the sternest of investors; however, this fall is far better than the $1.3 billion in profits that had been floated ahead of the release, allowing BP to post mild gains after the bell. This news will have also given hope to Shell that things may not be as bad as it first thought when it announces its own results on Thursday.

A reshuffling of the Greek negotiating team, i.e. the assassination of Yanis Varoufakis’ role in the debt-deal talks, helped the Eurozone indices to a strong close last night. Things were slightly flatter in the region this morning, as investors remain pleased with this progress but still painfully aware that a solution remains elusive, despite Tsipras’ claims that an initial deal is ‘close’.

Apple beat expectations on a surge in iPhone sales especially, and importantly, in China, where the company’s revenues grew by 71% to $16.82 billion. This meant iPhone sales reached 61.2 million compared to 43.7 million as this point last year; however, as has become somewhat of a trend, the iPad continues to suffer due to the increasing prevalence of super-thin laptops and super-large mobile phones.

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