Must read: Federal Reserve, US tech, WPP, Shawbrook
ii’s head of investment rounds up the morning’s big news.
30th October 2025 09:22
by Victoria Scholar from interactive investor
GLOBAL MARKETS
Victoria Scholar, Head of Investment, interactive investor says, “European markets have opened mixed with the DAX outperforming while the FTSE 100 is down 0.5%. Focus is on the European Central Bank’s rate decision – it's expected to keep interest rates on hold for the third straight meeting.
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Shares in WPP (LSE:WPP) have plunged to the bottom of the FTSE 100 after the company issued a profit warning and third-quarter revenue missed expectations. It expects its full-year operating profit margin to hit 13%, below forecasts for 13.5%. Shares were already down over 55% this year before the update.
Shares in Shawbrook have opened sharply higher after their debut on the London market this morning. In the biggest IPO in two years, the specialist lender priced shares at £3.70, at the middle of its expected range. Early success of Shawbrook’s listing could provide a glimmer of hope for London’s struggling IPO market, and will hopefully pave the way for further future listings and a revival in confidence towards the City of London as an attractive global financial hub.
After an "amazing meeting", President Trump has reduced tariffs on China from 57% to 47%, while China will pause rare earth export curbs for a year after the first face-to-face talks with Xi since 2019 in South Korea. However, markets responded negatively, with equities in China and Hong Kong in the red.
The Federal Reserve cut interest rates by 25 basis points as expected and is ending quantitative tightening. However, looking ahead, Fed Chair Jerome Powell suggested a rate cut in December isn’t a foregone conclusion.
Tech is in focus after NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) reached a market cap of $5 trillion and Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) hit $4 trillion, both for the first time. Meta Platforms Inc Class A (NASDAQ:META) shares fell after-hours after it raised its capex guidance for the year and reported a one-time tax charge. Investors shrugged off better-than-expected quarterly earnings and revenue.
Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) also fell after-hours after it look a hit from its OpenAI investment. Revenue and net income beat forecasts but Azure cloud growth was slightly disappointing versus a very high bar.
Alphabet Inc Class A (NASDAQ:GOOGL) was the outperformer out of last night’s Mag7 earnings reports, thanks to forecast topping quarterly revenue which surpassed $100 billion for the first time. Shares are already up by nearly 45% so far this year.
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