FTSE 100 LIVE: Markets muted as Zelensky to meet Starmer before Trump-Putin summit

The FTSE 100 (^FTSE) fell and European stocks moved cautiously higher on Thursday morning, gaining ground amid rising hopes of a potential ceasefire in the Russia-Ukraine war.

UK prime minister Keir Starmer said this week there is a "viable chance" of an end to the conflict ahead of US president Donald Trump's meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin in Alaska.

Trump warned of "very severe consequences" if Putin does not agree to end the war in Ukraine. Trump spoke with European leaders on Wednesday.

Starmer said that "any ceasefire would have to be lasting and to be lasting it would need security guarantees[...] That is why we set up this coalition of the willing."

Markets in London were also reacting to the latest UK GDP figures, which showed that growth slowed in the second quarter — the latest data point evidencing the shaky ground the UK economy is standing on heading into the autumn budget.

London stocks fell about 0.3% at the opening bell. Commodities stocks such as Rio Tinto (RIO.L) and Shell (SHEL.L) were among the top fallers in the index. The DAX (^GDAXI) in Germany ticked up 0.1% Paris's CAC 40 (^FCHI) rose 0.2% The pan-European STOXX 600 (^STOXX) gained around 0.1% ahead of the latest EU GDP reading.LIVE7 updates

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Lucy Harley-McKeown

Drop in rental listings spells price rises: RICS

Pedro Goncalves writes:

The supply of new rental properties in the UK has fallen at its fastest rate in five years, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).

The latest survey reveals that 31% of surveyors saw a decline in new instructions from landlords, marking the weakest reading since April 2020. This sharp drop reflects a "firmly negative trend" in the number of rental properties coming onto the market.

Despite this downturn in supply, tenant demand remained stable over the three months leading up to July.

With fewer properties becoming available, rental prices are expected to continue rising. A net balance of 25% of survey participants anticipate higher rents in the coming months.

In the sales market, new buyer inquiries also showed signs of weakening in July. A net balance of 6% of property professionals reported a decline in fresh inquiries from buyers, suggesting a softening in demand compared to June, when a net balance of 4% had observed an uptick.

Read more on Yahoo Finance UK 15 mins ago

Lucy Harley-McKeown

Investors bet on a slow in pace of ECB rate cuts: Reuters

Reuters has a take on the cooling bets for further interest rate cuts by the European Central Bank. Here's what they said: 26 mins ago

Lucy Harley-McKeown

Dow within striking distance of all-time highs as US rate cut priced in

US stock futures slightly pared gains seen on Wednesday. Over the past few sessions there has been a bullish sentiment following the July Consumer Price Index (CPI) report. Though the data showed inflation had ticked up, it increased less than expected.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also on Wednesday called on the Fed to lower rates by 150 to 175 basis points.

"I think we could go into a series of rate cuts here, starting with a 50 basis point rate cut in September," he told Bloomberg.

The result has been a surge in bets that the Fed would cut interest rates at its September policy meeting, especially in light of recent warning signs the labor market is weakening. By Wednesday afternoon, traders had fully priced in a September cut, according to the CME Group, with bets also rising on a potential "jumbo" cut of 50 basis points. 30 mins ago

Lucy Harley-McKeown

Weaker growth bad sign for consumers, say analysts

Alice Haine, personal finance analyst at Bestinvest by Evelyn Partners, said: 35 mins ago

Lucy Harley-McKeown

'More to do', says Reeves

Chancellor Rachel Reeves commented on the GDP figures: 40 mins ago

Lucy Harley-McKeown

UK economic growth slows between April and June

Pedro Goncalves was up bright and early covering UK GDP. Here's what he found:

The UK economy's growth slowed between April and June, according to official figures, as US president Donald Trump's tariffs hit and businesses grappled with higher costs.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed growth in gross domestic product (GDP) slowed to 0.3% in the three months to the end of June, down from a rate of 0.7% in the first quarter.

Economists polled by Reuters, as well as the Bank of England, had forecast 0.1% growth in GDP for the April-June period.

Growth in the latest quarter was driven by increases of 0.4% in services and 1.2% in construction, while the production sector fell by 0.3%

ONS director of economic statistics Liz McKeown said: “Growth slowed in the second quarter after a strong start to the year. The economy was weak across April and May, with some activity having been brought forward to February and March ahead of stamp duty and tariff changes, but then recovered strongly in June.

Read more on Yahoo Finance UK 44 mins ago

Lucy Harley-McKeown

Good morning!

Hello again. Lucy Harley-McKeown here, ready for another day of rolling markets coverage for European hours.

Two important things we'll be covering off today related to the UK economy:

The latest GDP reading The RICS house price index

Elsewhere, economic twitchers will be watching the UK industrial, manufacturing and construction output and EU GDP.

There are first-half results rolling in from: Aviva (AV.L), Admiral (ADM.L), Antofagasta (ANTO.L) and Savills (SVS.L)

In the US, Birkenstock (BIRK) is set to report results.

Let's get to it.

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