FTSE 100 shares round-up: Diageo, Rolls-Royce, Lloyds Banking, Digi Mart USA News: Sales growth at Diageo (LSE:DGE) lifted the company’s shares on Monday, adding to post-election buying of Rolls-Royce Holdings (LSE:RR.), Lloyds Banking Group (LSE:LLOY) and gold miners. The FTSE 100 index traded above its record close.
The early morning peak of 10,948.24 represented a rise of 3% since the “blue sweep” of Congress in Tuesday’s US midterm elections removed political uncertainty and boosted hopes for an easing of financial conditions. The previous record close was 10,910 on 27 February.
Deutsche Bank said it had been a remarkable 24 hours as the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 3% in its biggest jump since April 2025 and recorded its best midterm performance in 44 years. The bank said there was relief among investors that the results were not disputed, which helped reduce political uncertainty.
The bank also said a divided government could ease concerns about the fiscal trajectory, since it would be more difficult to pass tax cuts or spending packages. That helped bring down Treasury yields, which in turn supported risk assets.
Concerns about how the election result could affect regulation of the data-centre buildout weighed on AI-exposed stocks. CoreWeave Inc Ordinary Shares – Class A (NASDAQ:CRWV), Space Exploration Technologies Corp Class A (NASDAQ:SPCX) and Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) fell sharply, with Tesla affected by the results in Texas, the home state of Elon Musk’s business empire.
In contrast, Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT), Alphabet Inc Class A (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) posted outsized gains, reflecting hopes that they will be able to slow the pace of their massive capital expenditure programmes.
Saxo Bank said the AI trade is increasingly dividing between companies building infrastructure and those monetising it. It said opposition to data-centre expansion has gained political momentum, particularly around electricity costs, water consumption and local infrastructure, and that greater scrutiny could delay projects and increase construction costs.
US markets are now focused on tomorrow’s non-farm payroll figures. Leading FTSE 100 stocks continued to benefit from improved risk appetite brought about by softer bond yields and an easing of the Brent crude oil price.
Rolls-Royce rose 3% since the previous morning and 10% since setting a five-month low on 23 October. Lloyds also featured among the risers for a second successive session, and is now 6% above its position of 93.3p following mixed third-quarter results.
Bank of America backed Lloyds shares to reach 130p, despite the impact of deposit competition on the company’s recent net interest income guidance.
Miners also gained as dollar weakness and a decline in Treasury yields lifted the gold price by another 2% to $4,135 an ounce. Gold has risen 7% so far in November, and Endeavour Mining (LSE:EDV) and Fresnillo (LSE:FRES) have gained 13% and 11% respectively over the last two sessions.
Diageo set an eight-month high of 1,862.5p after reporting first-quarter organic sales growth of 1.4%, above City expectations. The result was driven by a resilient performance in North America, where sales declined 3.6% compared with a consensus forecast for a fall of 6.7%.
Diageo, whose brands include Baileys, Don Julio, Tanqueray and Guinness, reaffirmed full-year guidance for a broadly flat sales performance.
Chief executive Dave Lewis said the company’s “biggest challenge” remained North America, where Diageo has been taking action to make its offer more competitive. Given geopolitical uncertainty and the conflict in the Middle East’s impact on energy, supply and distribution, he said today’s results were a “small step in the right direction.”
Bank of America backed Diageo shares with a price target of 2,080p. The bank said it remains constructive on Diageo’s medium-term recovery, supported by reinvestment, sharper execution and a $1 billion cost-savings programme.
It said a valuation of 14.5 times forecast earnings looked attractive at a 19% discount to EU staples, but that visibility on the pace of the US recovery remains limited.
Among FTSE 100 fallers, BAE Systems (LSE:BA.) lost ground for a second successive session. A decline of 96p to 1,892p means BAE has given up 9% since the election result, which fuelled worries about defence spending in a country that accounted for 43% of the company’s £30.6 billion of sales last year.
