The markets broadly maintained their optimistic start to the final week in April, lifted by the prospects of lockdown easing in a number of countries in Europe and the rest of the world, and an overnight stimulus package from the Bank of Japan.
Slightly pinned back by sterling’s own growth but so far avoiding any oil-related losses – Brent Crude is down 5%, BP (LON:BP) and Shell (LON:RDSa) up 0.7% and 0.3% respectively – the FTSE clung onto an 80 point rise as the day went on. That’s a minor comedown from its post-open highs, with the index now at 5830.
The Eurozone saw a similarly-sized slowdown. The DAX remained short of 10600 as it rose 230 points, while the CAC slipped below 4450 as its gains were trimmed to 1.8%.
The Dow Jones is currently aiming for a near-200 point climb when the bell rings on Wall Street, an increase that would leave it around 35 points adrift of 24000, a level that has acted as something of a ceiling for the US index.
Investors may want to enjoy this while they get the chance. A quiet Monday is followed by a string of high profile earnings – including Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) – as well as the first glimpse at the USA’s Q1 GDP reading on Wednesday.
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