The Dow Jones bucked the miserly trend set by the European indices this Tuesday afternoon to indulge in some early 2018 gains.
Benefiting from the continued buzz surrounding Donald Trump’s recent tax plan triumph, the dollar’s worst annual performance since 2003 and the best Markit manufacturing PMI in just shy of 3 years, the Dow Jones rocketed 100 points after the bell. That’s sent the index back above 24800 – now it needs to muster enough momentum to break away from that level, something it has struggled to do in the last fortnight.
Over in Europe the situation was more mixed. The DAX has managed to nudge into green territory having been down by half a percent, while the CAC has roughly halved its morning losses to around 0.6%, all thanks to the euro shedding some of its initial New Year enthusiasm. The currency is still up 0.3% against the dollar, but has reversed its gains against the pound, instead slipping by 0.2%.
This wasn’t great news for the FTSE. With sterling rising 0.4% against the dollar, and taking back its early losses against the euro, the UK index saw its losses widen to around half a percent, keeping it the wrong side of 7650. The FTSE will be hoping this is just a blip on its recent record high-hitting run, and not the creeping grip of concern as it heads into what could be a tricky season for updates from its key retailers.
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