FTSE 100 Live: London stocks to open higher thanks to ‘HALO’ trade Proactive uses images sourced from Shutterstock
The FTSE 100 is projected to extend its gains further into uncharted territory on Thursday as analysts coined a new acronym for the stock market rotation: HALO – Heavy Assets, Low Obsolescence.
On the futures market, London’s blue-chip benchmark has been called 17 points higher, a day after it added a hefty 125.8 points to finish at a record closing high of 10,806.4.
US stocks also enjoyed a good session, led by a rebounding tech sector, which saw the Nasdaq gain 1.3%, the S&P 500 add 0.87% and the Dow Jones climb 0.6%.
The HALO trade, explains market analyst Ipek Ozkardeskaya, “suggests that companies with large physical assets are likely to attract capital flows as they are less vulnerable to rapid technological disruption, unlike many high-growth software/AI names.
“Investors are rotating from expensive AI and growth stocks into businesses with tangible infrastructure and long-lived assets — energy, materials, industrials, shipping, and other ‘real world’ enterprises.”
In this context, she says the FTSE 100 is “well positioned to benefit from HALO inflows, rallying from record to record, driven by energy and mining names”.
After the US close, Nvidia delivered another blockbuster quarter but its shares are up only 0.2% in afterhours trade, with Nasdaq futures pointing 0.2% lower.
Salesforce also reported earnings and has slipped 4.6% in afterhours trade despite beating analyst expectations on both revenue and earnings, but with guidance just below consensus.