The chaos in Catalonia yesterday on the back of the referendum on independence has sent the Spanish stock market lower. Violent clashes between the police and voters has spooked investors, and money is flowing out of the country on account of it. Thanks to the heavy-handed response from Madrid, the Catalonian question has now become even more divisive.
The Spanish market is the standout under performer in Europe as the FTSE 100 has pushed above the 7400 mark – level not seen since mid-September. The DAX and the CAC 40 has continued their positive moves and have reached fresh multi-month highs.
Barratt Developments (LON:BDEV), Persimmon (LON:PSN) and Taylor Wimpey (LON:TW) are some of the biggest gainers on the FTSE 100 after Theresa May pledged an extra £10 billion for the Help to Buy scheme.
An increase in the growth rate of Chinese manufacturing and non-manufacturing figures over the weekend has driven up the share price of Anglo American (LON:AAL), Glencore (LON:GLEN) and Rio Tinto (LON:RIO). China is a major importer of basic resources so there is often a strong correlation between China’s economy and their profits.
The GBP/USD dropped overnight on account of the strong US dollar, and the slight cooling of UK manufacturing in September put extra pressure on the pound. The British manufacturing PMI report came in at 55.9, and that was down from August’s 56.9.
We are expecting the Dow Jones to open 21 points higher at 22,426, and we are calling the S&P 500 up 1 point at 2520.
At 3pm, the US will announce the ISM manufacturing report and the consensus is for a reading of 58, and that compares with August’s reading of 58.8.
Robert Kaplan, of the Federal Reserve, is due to speak at 7pm. Last month Mr Kaplan stated the US central banker should be ‘patient’ when it comes to hiking interest rates.
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