Tuesday, 13th November: Take two for the FTSE 100 this morning as the index opened higher once again, attempting to reverse the damage caused yesterday after failing to hold onto gains.
Providing us with results today was Vodafone, who despite delivering losses and freezing their dividend, was forgiven by the market and landed at the top of the FTSE 100 because of their cost-cutting promises and positive outlook for the second half of the fiscal year. Calling the shots at Vodafone is Nick Read, new chief executive, who has pledged a reduction in operating costs by €1.2 billion by 2021 and has halted dividend growth until the group managed to reduce debt. Having fallen almost 50.0% since the start of 2014, they were trading more than 8.0% higher today following the interim update.
In second place on the blue-chip index in the afternoon was Melrose Industries, up more than 6.0% after a trading update which gave a positive outlook, particularly in the Aerospace division and Powder Metallurgy.
Oil stocks took a hit today and gathered at the bottom end of the index together after President Trump encouraged the middle east not to cut production and insisted that prices should be much lower than current levels. Brent was down by more than 5.0% at the end of the trading day at around $67.07, more than 20.0% lower when compared to the start of October 2018.
At the end of the day the FTSE 100 fell flat, closing at 7053 once again.