With the month’s Federal Reserve meeting looming, the Dow Jones added around 40 points, half of what was promised by the futures.
It appears that, if the Dow is to reach last October’s all-time highs, it is going to have to grind out those gains. Despite a lifeless dollar, a blockbuster ADP (NASDAQ:ADP) non-farm figure ahead of Friday’s official report, and a 6% increase from a forecast-lifting Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), the index could only rise 0.2%, just about pushing it back above 26600. A unexpected, and sharp, drop in the ISM manufacturing PMI perhaps helped to cap its gains; ditto the uncertainty over what shifts in wording, if any, might appear in the evening’s Fed statement.
Though the weak US manufacturing data failed to particularly strengthen the pound’s gains against the dollar, it didn’t hurt, with cable at a 2-week-plus peak of $1.3075 thanks to a 0.3% increase. And while sterling was less excitable against the euro, rising 0.1%, it was enough to push it to a €1.163-crossing, 3 and a half week high. This following speculation that Theresa May and Labour could be close to a pro-customs union Brexit deal.
As the pound rose, the FTSE went the other way. Ramped up losses in its commodity sector – a 2.5% slide from copper led the miners lower, while BP (LON:BP) and Shell (LON:RDSa) fell 1.5% apiece – contributed to the UK index’s 0.4% decline, one that pushed it under 7390 for the first time in effectively a month.
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