Thursday continued to be more notable for what didn’t happen than what did, with the FTSE avoiding the red despite a rocky set of mining stocks.
The UK index spent the morning flat at 7580, the gains from the likes of BP (LON:BP) and Shell (LON:RDSa) – Brent Crude shot up to $75 per barrel on Wednesday, though has pulled back below $74.50 this Thursday – countering the losses seen from Rio Tinto (LON:RIO), Anglo American (LON:AAL) et al.
Helping the FTSE was a disappointing session for the pound. Having built up a head of steam against the dollar – admittedly one that is pretty paltry in comparison to its recent losses – sterling saw its rebound nipped in the bud by a hawkish set of Fed meeting minutes on Wednesday night, with cable slipping 0.3% to fall beneath $1.287. And even though the eurozone’s manufacturing and services PMIs weren’t great, the euro also managed to have the edge over the pound, the single currency climbing 0.2%.
Turning to this afternoon, and with the US-China trade war heating up with the latest bout of tit-for-tat tariffing just as talks get back underway, the Dow Jones isn’t looking like it fancies doing much when the bell rings on Wall Street. The futures have the Dow dipping 25 or so points when the US session gets underway, a move that keeps it below the 25750 mark it has struggled to really push beyond with any longevity in the last few days.
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