Without a Trumptervention the markets progressed much as expected, with the Dow Jones keeping above 26000 after the bell.
After sprinting out of the gate, rushing to 26140, the Dow settled into more of a saunter, the index up around 40 points. Chevron (NYSE:CVX) and ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM) were two of the session’s better performances, rising 1% apiece as the markets continue to digest news of oil tanker blasts in the Gulf of Oman.
Over in Europe, things were roughly where they were at lunchtime. The DAX climbed 50 points, keeping the German index at a 3-ish week peak, while the CAC finally managed to erase its initial losses to sit flat at 5370.
The UK oil stocks weren’t as receptive to Brent Crude’s 3%-plus rise as their US counterparts. Instead BP (LON:BP) slipped 0.1%, with Shell (LON:RDSa) giving up its early growth to remain unchanged. This meant the FTSE found itself drifting into the red, shedding a handful of points to lurk 7360.
The pound failed to really respond to the first Tory leadership ballot. Boris Johnson now has one incompetent palm on the keys to No. 10 after securing 114 votes – that’s more than a third of the Conservative Party’s 313 MPs, and 71 ahead of 2nd place Jeremy Hunt. Yet, even when faced with the prospect of a hard Brexit, sterling was quiet; cable didn’t budge from $1.269, while the currency actually added 0.1% against the euro.
Looking ahead to Friday and the early performance could well be decided by the Chinese data overnight. Fixed asset investment is expected to remain at 6.1% month-on-month, with industrial production similarly unchanged at 5.4%. Retail sales, meanwhile, are looking for a sharp rebound, from 7.2% to 8.0%.
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