Though there were wobbles here and there, the European markets only strengthened as Thursday went on, ahead of what could be a strong start in the USA.
Still celebrating the various lockdown-easing measures around the continent, despite the news that South Korea may have to consider putting some restrictions back in place due to a spike in covid-19 cases, the FTSE added 75 points to cross 6200. It’s something of a mid-point milestone for the UK index – around the same distance from its 4750-tickling March lows as it is from January’s 7700-teasing highs.
What made the FTSE’s gains even more notable is that they came in the face of chunky losses for Standard Charted and HSBC, both of which fell more than 3% on the worsening situation between Hong Kong and China now that the latter’s parliament has backed the new national security bill.
Not quite as buoyant as the FTSE, the DAX nevertheless crossed 11700 thanks to a 0.6% increase. The CAC was bubblier, hitting 4730 as it rose 1.3%.
As for the Dow Jones, currently the futures are pencilling in a 200 point surge, one that would leave the index knocking on the door of 25750. Before it can get to that, however, the Dow is going to have to clear a couple of hurdles, namely the usual Thursday jobless claims and a second look at the Q1 GDP reading.
The former is set to see another 2.1 million Americans file for unemployment, which would put the total above 40 million since mid-March, while the latter figure is expected to come in unchanged at -4.8% at the annualised rate.
Any word from the President on China, however, could, well, trump all of that.
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