Afternoon market commentary
The euro rocketed higher this Thursday afternoon following a slightly more hawkish than expected set of ECB meeting minutes.
While the end of QE isn’t here just yet, there were a few notable shifts in the phrasing of the central bank’s December accounts that suggest talk of winding down its massive bond buying programme is likely going to become more and more prevalent as 2018 continues. Of course the euro – which at the moment doesn’t need much excuse to celebrate – was incredibly receptive to these signals, surging 0.6% against the pound, sending sterling back to last week’s lows, while climbing 0.8% to re-cross €1.20 against the dollar.
This, in turn, made the eurozone indices fairly miserable. Ignoring Germany’s best annual growth reading in 8 years the DAX fell a further 90 points, taking it to a sub-13200 one week low; the CAC was less distraught, though the French bourse still slipped underneath 5500 with a 0.2% dip.
Despite a largely unpromising day for retail sector reports – M&S (LON:MKS) and Tesco (LON:TSCO) are down 6.8% and 4.4% respectively – the FTSE just about managed to hold onto its record highs this Thursday. A green set of mining stocks and the pound’s plunge against the euro has helped prevent the UK index from fully succumbing to the waves and waves of retail woe, as has a 5% climb from FTSE 100 newbie Just Eat (LON:JE), which itself benefited from a ratings upgrade from Barclays (LON:BARC).
Elsewhere the Dow Jones did what it does best this Thursday: hit new highs. Climbing 90 points once the bell rang on Wall Street, the Dow now finds itself above 25450 – tomorrow may test its resolve, however, as the US faces a decline in both inflation and retail sales.
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