The European markets were predictably quiet as investors waited for Thursday’s April ECB meeting and subsequent appearance from Mario Draghi.
Perhaps hoping for a dovish outing from the central bank chief, the DAX and CAC nudged higher after the bell, with both indices rising 0.3%. The euro, meanwhile, kept its cards close to its chest; the single currency sat flat against the pound, holding at a one week high of €1.145, while dipping 0.1% against the dollar, where it’s lurking at its worst levels since mid-January.
Back in March the ECB caused a bit of hawkish hope to emerge for the euro when a slight change in wording around the terms of its Asset Purchase Programme caused investors to speculate the central bank was dropping its easing bias. However, Draghi was quick to pour cold water on those looking to read too much into the linguistic shift, with the month’s meeting minutes further scraping away whatever hawkish remnants were left for the currency to cling onto. With the euro now looking incredibly ropey against the dollar, it’ll be interesting to see if Draghi is willing to give it another kicking, or if his press conference will be a classically fireworks-free affair.
As for the FTSE, the UK index sat flat around the 7375 mark, around 50 points off of Wednesday’s intraday lows but down from Tuesday’s 7400-crossing 11 week peak. A first quarter pre-tax loss of £236 million for Barclays (LON:BARC) and a disappointing market reaction to Shell's (LON:RDSb) strong Q1 results helped keep the FTSE from matching the admittedly mild growth seen in the eurozone.
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