A dovish set of meeting minutes from the Federal Reserve has further reassured investors that Jay Powell and the gang won’t be turning off the stimulus taps any time soon.
Those calming words from the Fed allowed the FTSE to open in the green for the 3rd day running, adding 0.4% after the bell this Thursday. Putting the UK index at 6,920, the FTSE is now at its best price since the end of February 2020. That’s right, pre-pandemic levels!
Much of this is down to selective hearing on behalf of the FTSE, indulging in things like the IMF’s revised global growth forecasts, and a general sense of optimism surrounding the UK’s post-covid comeback, while ignoring warnings about a vaccine rollout slowdown and the blood clot concerns surrounding the use of the Oxford jab on under-30s.
Sterling has borne the brunt of those vaccine fears, though avoided another wobble this Thursday. Against the dollar it rose 0.2% to $1.3764, while against the euro it crept up 0.1% to €1.1585.
As for the FTSE 250, the mid cap index closed at an all-time high on Wednesday and appears to be on track to do the same again today after climbing another 0.2% to 22,180.
Over in the Eurozone the CAC was looking sprightlier than it has done for the past couple of days, rising half a percent to 6,160, with the DAX up 0.2% to 15,220.
Despite the Fed’s dovishness, it is looking like another quiet one from the Dow Jones. The 0.1% increase forecast by the futures still leaves the Dow short of 33,500, the index unable to return to its all-time highs since Europe returned from its Easter break.
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