JD Sports holds guidance, Grainger maintains lettings momentum

Stocks to watch

UK sportswear retailer JD Sports Fashion maintained annual guidance despite a slowing of sales growth in May and softening in the US market. The company on Tuesday said it still expected full-year profit to pass £1bn after positive trading in all regions through May with overall growth in organic sales of around 8%, compared with 15% in the first three months of the year.

Residential landlord Grainger reported continued lettings momentum in an update on Tuesday, with 7.1% total like-for-like rental growth in the year-to-date, up from 6.8% at the half-year point of the 2023 period. The FTSE 250 company said spot occupancy stood at 98.7% as at the end of May, improving from 98.5%. It added that vacant sales volumes were ahead of this time last year, while sales pricing was on average 1.8% below September vacant possession values for the year-to-date.

Newspaper round-up

The average price of two- and five-year fixed-rate mortgages in the UK has hit its highest level for seven months, putting further pressure on borrowers who are reaching the end of their deals. Data from the financial information firm Moneyfacts showed the cost of a two-year deal for homeowners rising to 6.23% on Monday, up from 6.19% at the end of last week and its highest since last November. Meanwhile, the average cost of a five-year deal rose to 5.86%, from 5.83% on Friday. – Guardian

The UK’s post-Brexit border strategy risks further pushing up food prices, according representatives of Britain’s fresh produce industry. Traders in the food supply chain are warning they will not be able to absorb the extra cost of charges levied for import checks on goods entering the country from the EU and the rest of the world, due to be introduced in the new year. – Guardian

Rising corporate profits played a bigger role in driving Europe’s inflation crisis than the energy shock caused by the war in Ukraine, according to analysis by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Profit increases accounted for almost half the increase in the eurozone’s post-pandemic inflation rate, according to research by IMF staff, as “companies increased prices by more than spiking costs of imported energy”. – Telegraph

Auditor KPMG is to cut around 5pc of US jobs as demand for its consulting services slows. Paul Knopp, the “big four” auditor’s US chief executive, said the cuts are designed to address the “significant mismatch” between its US workforce and the reduced demand amid global economic uncertainty. – Telegraph

Four in ten of all fines issued by HM Revenue & Customs for late filing of tax returns are meted out to people who earn too little to owe any tax in the first place, according to an investigation by tax campaigners. Between 2018 and 2022, 420,000 late-filing penalties issued by the tax authority were to people who earned less than the personal tax allowance and therefore owed no tax. – The Times

US close

Wall Street’s major indices concluded Monday’s trading in negative territory, with the Dow registering its sixth straight day of losses.

Investors reacted nervously to the weekend's sudden political upheaval in Russia, which manifested in an unsuccessful coup attempt.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was off 0.04% at 33,714.71, while the S&P 500 also felt the brunt of the day's selling pressure, shedding 0.45% to settle at 4,328.82.

Leading the downward march, the Nasdaq Composite suffered the most significant hit of 1.16% to end the trading day at 13,335.78.

On the currency front, the dollar was a mixed bag, making marginal gains of 0.01% on sterling to last trade at 78.67p.