Despite a barrage of bad news in the last 24 hours, the Dow Jones resisted the kind of losses seen across Europe.
Not only were the US markets dealing with the same concerns as elsewhere – namely a pessimistic, but inactive, Federal Reserve, the highest number of daily covid-19 cases in Germany since April and the threat of another national outbreak in South Korea – but also another worrying jobless claims reading.
Last Thursday the figure fell below 1 million for the first time in 21 weeks. Well, that new streak didn’t last long – this week’s number came in at 1.106 million, further backing up the Fed’s employment worries.
Yet the Dow was effectively flat after the bell, at points adding a handful of points. In contrast the DAX and CAC dropped 1.1% apiece, slipping to 12840 and 4920 respectively, with the FTSE accelerating its losses as it plunged 1.4%. That’s because the pound rose 0.3% against the dollar and 0.4% against the euro.
Looking to tomorrow and August’s flash PMIs could make or break market sentiment. For the Eurozone as a whole manufacturing is expected to improve from 51.8 to 52.7, but with services going in the opposite direction, from 54.7 to 54.6.
In the UK, both manufacturing and services are forecast to rise, to 54.9 and 57.0 respectively. Meanwhile in the US, the manufacturing PMI is estimated at 51.9, against 50.9 in July, with services at 50.9 against 50.0.
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