Stocks had a mixed start to trading on Monday morning, amid intensified conflict in the Middle East, which is entering its fifth week. <\/p>\n
In the UK, the FTSE 100 (^FTSE<\/a>) climbed 0.4%, while Germany’s DAX (^GDAXI<\/a>) slipped 0.2% and the CAC (^FCHI<\/a>) in Paris hovered around the flatline. The pan-European STOXX 600 (^STOXX<\/a>) was also muted in early trading. <\/p>\n Read more: Stocks mixed as Middle East conflict intensifies<\/a> <\/p>\n In the US, S&P 500 futures (ES=F<\/a>) rose 0.4%, while Dow (YM=F<\/a>) and Nasdaq futures (NQ=F<\/a>) advanced 0.3%. <\/p>\n Here’s our daily roundup of the key trending stocks on Monday. <\/p>\n Exxon Mobil (XOM<\/a>) <\/p>\n Oil company Exxon Mobil (XOM<\/a>) was trending on Monday morning, with shares up 1.3% in pre-market trading, as the escalating conflict in the Middle East pushed crude prices higher. <\/p>\n Brent crude futures (BZ=F<\/a>) jumped 3% on Monday to $108.50 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate (CL=F<\/a>) futures were up 1.7% at $101.30 a barrel at the time of writing. <\/p>\n Read more: Pound set for biggest monthly loss against dollar since October<\/a> <\/p>\n Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “Doubts over a quick resolution have grown after Iran\u2011backed Houthi militants stepped up attacks in the region, and the US moved additional troops closer to the conflict.” <\/p>\n “With the Houthis threatening Red Sea shipping lanes and key energy infrastructure, and rumours that Washington is preparing for ground operations, traders are bracing for more supply risk and further price volatility.” <\/p>\n Eli Lilly (LLY<\/a>) <\/p>\n US pharmaceuticals giant Eli Lilly (LLY<\/a>) is in focus, after it was announced that the company had struck an AI drug discovery deal with Hong Kong-listed biotech Insilico Medicine (3696.HK<\/a>), worth up to $2.75bn (\u00a32.07bn). <\/p>\n According to an announcement<\/a> on Sunday, the collaboration will see Eli Lilly (LLY<\/a>) use Insilico’s AI engine to accelerate the discovery and development of novel therapeutics across multiple areas. <\/p>\n Stocks: Create your watchlist and portfolio<\/a> <\/p>\n Under the agreement, Insilico is eligible to receive an upfront payment of $115m, followed by development, regulatory, and commercial milestones that could bring the total deal value to around $2.75bn. <\/p>\n Eli Lilly (LLY<\/a>) shares were up nearly 1% in pre-market trading on Monday morning, while Insilico’s stock gained 1.8% in the session in Hong Kong. <\/p>\n Rio Tinto (RIO.L<\/a>) <\/p>\n In London, miner Rio Tinto (RIO.L<\/a>) was the biggest gainer on the FTSE 100 (^FTSE<\/a>), with shares up more than 3% on Monday morning. <\/p>\n The rise in shares came after the mining company said that its iron ore port operations had resumed after Tropical Cyclone Narelle passed over Western Australia’s Pilbara region. <\/p>\n Read more: Stocks that are trending today<\/a> <\/p>\n The company said that recent weather events are estimated to have impacted iron ore shipments by approximately 8 million tonnes, but added that it had identified a pathway to recover around half of these losses. <\/p>\n In addition, Rio Tinto (RIO.L<\/a>) said that its Pilbara iron ore shipment guidance for 2026 remains unchanged at 323 to 338 million tonnes. <\/p>\n Boohoo\/Debenhams Group (DEBS.L<\/a>) <\/p>\n Shares in retailer Boohoo Group (DEBS.L<\/a>) popped nearly 4% on Monday, on the back of the company’s full-year trading update. <\/p>\n Read more: Top oil and energy stocks to watch as crude swings on Iran war<\/a> <\/p>\n Boohoo (DEBS.L<\/a>) said it was now expected to have delivered adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of \u00a353m ($70.2m) for the year to 28 February. The company said that is comfortably ahead of its previously upgraded guidance and represents 36% growth year-on-year. <\/p>\n In addition, Boohoo (DEBS.L<\/a>) said its board remained confident on delivering double-digit adjusted EBITDA growth in the current financial year. <\/p>\n Read more: UK inflation held at 3% ahead of Iran war<\/a> <\/p>\n Wealth Club chief investment strategist Susannah Streeter said that the company is the “latest to shift to a marketplace model and its metamorphosis is reaping rewards”. <\/p>\n “It’s followed the rest of the fashion pack, like Next (NXT.L<\/a>) and Marks and Spencer (MKS.L<\/a>), to offer space on its online rack for third-party brands who pay a fee for the privilege,” she said. <\/p>\n “Crucially, stock levels have been reduced significantly, as it becomes a portal for multiple brands, instead of focusing on shifting its own stock and being forced to discount heavily,” Streeter added. <\/p>\n The company rebranded as Debenhams Group last year but is still listed as Boohoo Group. <\/p>\n Download the Yahoo Finance app, available for Apple<\/a> and Android<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Stocks had a mixed start to trading on Monday morning, amid intensified conflict in the Middle East, which…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":116500,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[20718],"tags":[47659,1418,11432,47656,47660,39712,28606,24900,37605,6224,47658,47657,24,42,12629,21670,5231,47662,47663,20964,12991,47661,34480],"class_list":["post-116499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rio-tinto","tag-0-4","tag-ai","tag-boohoo-group","tag-boohoo-debenhams-group","tag-debenhams-group","tag-ebitda","tag-eli-lilly","tag-exxon-mobil","tag-f","tag-ftse","tag-insilico","tag-insilico-medicine","tag-iran","tag-middle-east","tag-monday","tag-monday-morning","tag-morning","tag-nearly-1","tag-nearly-4","tag-pilbara","tag-rio-tinto","tag-streeter","tag-xom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/117205952328581978","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116499"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116499\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}