Key events
Taylor Wimpey blames budget uncertainty for sales slowdown
UK housebuilder Taylor Wimpey has warned that sales growth has slowed in the usually busy autumn season.
Taylor Wimpey told the City this morning that it was seeing “softer market conditions in the second half of the year”, which it blamed on current uncertainty in the housing market ahead of the November Budget.
This slowdown has pulled down Taylor Wimpey’s net private sales rate to 0.63 per outlet per week since June 30, down from 0.71 a year earlier.
Jennie Daly, chief executive of Taylor Wimpey. says:
“We have delivered a resilient performance thanks to the hard work of our teams on the ground. Market conditions remain challenging, impacted by uncertainty ahead of the upcoming UK Budget and continued affordability pressures.
We welcome the Government’s planning reforms, and we hope to see continued momentum to enable the supply of much needed new homes across the UK as focus moves to the implementation phase. However, the Government’s housing ambitions, and the significant economic and social benefits of increased housing supply can only be unlocked by effective demand, particularly for affordability constrained first time buyers.
The debate over tech stock valuations has intensified, reports Tony Sycamore, market analyst at IG, following the sharp decline in CoreWeave’s share price yesterday.
CoreWeave, the Nvidia-backed cloud computing and AI infrastructure provider, plummeted 16.31% to $88.39, driven by disappointing Q3 guidance escalating debt concerns, market rotation away from growth stocks, and supply chain challenges within Nvidia’s ecosystem.
It was joined by Nvidia, which slid 2.96% to $193.16, reflecting broader tech weakness ahead of its November 19.
Elsewhere, AMD dropped 2.65% to $237.52 and Oracle fell 1.94% to $236.15, significantly below its September peak of $345.72, a decline of about 33%.
Introduction: SoftBank shares slide after Nvidia stake sale
Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy.
Shares in Japanese tech investor SoftBank have taken a knock, after it revealed it has sold its stake in chipmaker Nvidia.
SoftBank surprised investors yesterday by revealing it sold its shares in Nvidia last month, raising $5.8bn, to fund its other investments in artificial intelligence pioneers, such as ChatGPT parent OpenAI.
And the market verdict today has been decisive. SoftBank’s shares touched a one-month low when trading opened in Tokyo – down as much as 10% at one stage – before closing down 3.5%.
Although SoftBank insisted there wasn’t a “specific” reason to sell its Nvidia shares in October, the move has raised more questions about whether the sky-high valuations given to companies in the AI sector are solid.
It also highlights the growing funding demands SoftBank faces to bankroll its bet on OpenAI and other investments.
Shares in Nvidia, whose high-speed chips are used to power AI data centres, fell 3% yesterday, amid a wider drop in tech shares.
Analysts have suggested SoftBank’s move shouldn’t cause alarm, though, as it isn’t giving up on AI.
Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote, explains:
It appears SoftBank is looking to boost its bets further down the AI chain — toward companies that actually use AI, like OpenAI and ABB Robotics.
For those unhappy with the circularity of current AI deals, this is good news….
Meta, for instance, signed a deal with Dutch cloud provider Nebius, which predicted rapid growth next year – and when I say rapid, it’s rapid: their sales soared by more than 300% last quarter. Their share price? It tanked 7% yesterday, along with CoreWeave, which fell 16%.
The agenda
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7am GMT: German inflation report for October
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Noon GMT: US weekly mortgage approval data
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2.15pm GMT: Treasury Committee hearing on property taxes ahead of the budget
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