HSBC Q1 profits tumble, Taylor Wimpey on track to deliver FY guidance

London pre-open

The FTSE 100 was being called to open 72.8 points higher ahead of the bell on Tuesday after closing out the previous session 1.88% weaker at 7,380.54.

Stocks to watch

Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey said on Tuesday that it was trading in line with full-year expectations and that it remained on track to deliver against guidance set out at the time of its 2021 full-year results.

Taylor Wimpey stated its net private sales rate for the year ended 17 April was "strong" at 0.96, down only slightly from 1.00 in the equivalent period a year earlier, with cancellation rates flat year-on-year at 14%. The FTSE 100-listed firm also added it was continuing to see "healthy levels of house price growth" that had offset labour and material cost inflation.

HSBC on Tuesday reported a 28% fall in first-quarter profits on Tuesday due to higher-than-expected credit losses and inflation.

The bank posted pre-tax profits of $4.2bn for the three months ended 31 March, with revenue down 4% year-on-year at $12.5bn. HSBC also reported an expected credit loss of $600.0m, compared with a release of $400.0m during the same period twelve months earlier.

Newspaper round-up

Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter offers shareholders the "best path forward", its chairman declared last night after bowing to the billionaire's $44.0bn bid. The social media group dropped its resistance and approved the Tesla chief executive's initial offer of $54.20 per share. - The Times

The UK government has defended a decision to pay millions of pounds in bonuses to staff at the collapsed energy supplier Bulb, despite the fact that it has been effectively nationalised as part of a bailout that could cost taxpayers £2.2bn. Quarterly "retention bonuses" were deemed necessary to prevent an exodus of staff that could have scuppered efforts to keep the business afloat while a buyer is found, multiple sources familiar with the situation said. - Guardian

There is no evidence of a "sustained decline" in UK exports to the EU since the Brexit deal kicked in, a report has found. Experts said sales into Europe remained strong, despite a 25% relative decline in imports from the bloc compared with the rest of the world. - Telegraph

Six hundred employees of Interactive Investor will be awarded "celebratory payments" of up to a year's pay as the investment platform completes a deal to sell itself to abrdn, the FTSE 100 asset management company. Richard Wilson, the chief executive, said that all staff on the payroll before December 2021 would get 20% of pay for each year of service, with the 200 long-servers hired before December 2016 receiving an entire year's salary. - The Times

Rupert Murdoch's TalkTV fears being hit with an advertising boycott as the opinionated news network prepares to challenge the BBC. The insurgent news channel launching on Monday night at 1900 NST is wary of facing a similar backlash that struck rival broadcaster GB News when some of the world's biggest brands paused their campaigns following pressure from Stop Funding Hate, the left-wing social media campaign group. - Telegraph

US close

Wall Street stocks ended the session in the green on Monday as major indices attempted to put a stop to a recent sell-off that has seen the Dow Jones put on a losing performance in four-straight weeks.

At the close, Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.70% firmer at 33,049.46, while the S&P 500 was 0.57% stronger at 4,296.12 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 1.29% higher at 13,004.85.