Shell shares slipped more than 1% on Wednesday after the oil major posted a trading update in advance of fourth quarter and full-year results on 30 January.
The company cut its forecast for liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the last quarter of 2024 after production dropped. It said it expects profits in its gas business to be “significantly lower” than the previous three months.
Shell is the world’s largest trader of LNG, the product which makes up a significant part of many countries’ energy supplies.
Meanwhile, margins in its oil refining business remained at about $5.50 a barrel, having fallen sharply last year.
Read more: FTSE 100 LIVE: Stocks mixed as China’s currency hits 16-month low after poor Wall Street session
The update also included a $1.3bn (£1.04bn) charge “related to timing of payments of emissions certificates” in Germany and the US.
Shell also warned that its “trading & optimisation results” are expected to be significantly lower than in Q3 2024, partly due to an expiring hedging contract.
Shell is the second-biggest company in the FTSE 100 (^FTSE), by market capitalisation, and last year chief executive Wael Sawan suggested the company would look at “all options” to raising its share price, including potentially moving its listing to New York.
Nvidia tumbled more than 6% on Tuesday, a day after shares closed at a record high. It came as traders digested CEO Jensen Huang’s presentation at the CES tech show in Las Vegas on Monday night, which gave a flurry of updates on upcoming products.
The firm unveiled its next-generation of gaming chips and pledged the “ChatGPT moment for general robotics is just around the corner”.
Huang also introduced an AI model, called Cosmos, which he said could generate video that can be used to train robots and self-driving cars at a much lower cost than current methods.
Stocks: Create your watchlist and portfolio
Analysts at Stifel, Wedbush, and Truist Securities reiterated their buy ratings on the stock. On average, Wall Street analysts tracked by Yahoo Finance see Nvidia shares rising to $172.80 over the next 12 months.
“[T]he company continues to position itself more favourably — not just in the datacentre but increasingly at all areas of the edge — from client compute to autonomous vehicles to robotics — supporting revenue growth and our Buy rating on the stock,” Truist Securities analyst William Stein, who holds a Buy rating on the stock, wrote in a note to investors Tuesday morning.
Flutter Entertainment was under pressure as the online betting firm downgraded its US guidance, citing unfavourable sports results.
Story continues
It noted that the 2024/2025 NFL season to date has been the most customer-friendly since the launch of online sports betting, with the highest rate of favourites winning in nearly 20 years.
As a result, the company now expects 2024 US revenue to be around $370m lower than its previous guidance midpoint at approximately $5.78bn. It had previously guided to between $6.05bn and $6.25bn.
After incremental one-off cost mitigation, adjusted EBITDA for the year is set to be around $205m lower than the previous guidance midpoint at approximately $505m, versus $670m to $750m.
Adjusted earnings in the US are set to be about $205m lower than the previous guidance midpoint at approximately $505m.
Read more: Pound, gold and oil prices in focus: commodity and currency check
It said the transitory nature of the results had no impact on the assumptions and guidance expectations communicated at an investor event in September.
“We remain confident in the growth drivers and long-term growth trajectory set out at the Investor Day,” the company added.
Flutter added that it lost $74m on the Detroit Lions’ 40-34 win over the San Francisco at the end of 2024.
Shares at the company, which owns Paddy Power, Sportsbet and FanDue, were 2.6% down on the back of the news in London. The company’s primary listing (FLUT) switched to New York last year.
Meanwhile, shares of rival Entain (ENT.L) fell 1.6%.
Topps Tiles revealed that sales in the 13 weeks to 28 December were 4.6% higher year-on-year, with the most recent five-week period up 12.9%. The improvement was driven by an increase in activity through trade channels.
“Whilst it is early in the financial year and macroeconomic indicators remain mixed, we are pleased that our growth strategy is delivering strong results,” the company said.
It came as chief executive Rob Parker announced his intention to step down after 18 years with the group and five years as chief executive.
No firm date has been set for his departure, however, Topps said it would likely be towards the end of 2025 with the search for a replacement already underway.
Read more: Will gold rally to fresh highs this year? Have your say
Paul Forman, chairman, added: “Rob has made an enormous contribution to the development and success of the business over the last 18 years.
“During his time as CEO, he has overseen a period of significant diversification and growth of the business, and has led the Group through a particularly volatile period for the UK economy, including the COVID pandemic.”
Shares were 6.7% higher at the time of writing.
Read more:
Download the Yahoo Finance app, available for Apple and Android.