The Morning Call – Strong passenger figures help easyjet gain altitude.

Asian Markets

Asian shares inched closer to a record high as U.S. jobs data pointed to firm economic growth although the greenback was soft as the spectre of benign inflation capped domestic bond yields.

U.S. Markets

The U.S.30 broke above the 25,000 level for the first time and other major indexes hit closing record highs again, propelled by strong global economic data that extended the New Year’s rally for the stock market.

Today’s News

Shop prices in the UK were down 0.6% on year in December, the British Retail Consortium said. That missed expectations for a flat reading following the 0.1% contraction in November. It also marked the steepest drop since last March as prices for non-food items were slashed – although food prices inched higher.

IAG reported further growth in capacity and passenger traffic for December. Looking at traffic, there was a 6.1% year-on-year increase in revenue passenger kilometres to 7,670, after growth of 7.6% and 4.4% growth in November and October. Premium traffic rose 3.9% following gains of 7.9% and 4.4% in the two preceding months. Capacity across the group, which is measured in available seat kilometres, swelled 4.0% for the second month in a row.

EasyJet said it saw growth in passenger numbers and load factor in December year-on-year, but also more cancellations. easyJet reported 5.9 million passengers carried in December, up from 5.6 million in the same month in 2016, while its load factor increased to 91.4% to 89.9%. On a rolling annual basis, passenger numbers rose to 81.6 million from 74.5 million, and load factor picked back up to 93.0% from 91.5%.

Clarkson said it expected full year results for 2017 to be in line with current expectations. In a brutally short statement, the FTSE 250 group confirmed results for the calendar year will be released on 12 March 2018. Clarkson last updated the market in November with the revelation that its computer systems had been accessed in a cyber security incident.

Apple has said that all iPhones, iPads and Mac computers are affected by two major flaws in computer chips. It emerged this week that tech companies have been racing to fix the Meltdown and Spectre bugs, that could allow hackers to steal data. Apple said it had already released some patches but there was no evidence that the vulnerability had been exploited.

Gold dipped from the previous session’s 3-1/2 month high, ahead of U.S. non-farm payroll data, but remained on track for their fourth straight weekly gain.

Oil Prices fell, dropping away from highs last seen in 2015, as soaring production in the United States undermined the 10 percent rally from lows hit in December that was driven by tightening supply and political tensions in OPEC member Iran.