Given that so far August has been a bloodbath, the markets were probably just relived that Friday kicked off with some tentative growth, informed in part by Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) becoming the world’s first trillion dollar company.
The FTSE strained to climb 0.3% after the bell, a very slight increase that just about allowed it to re-cross 7600 – this from an index that ended July at 7750. Once again it was a mixed morning for the FTSE’s reporting constituents. RBS (LON:RBS) rose 2.6% after announcing it was on track to pay out its first divided in a decade, despite H1 profits falling thanks to the US Department of Justice settlement, while Mondi (LON:MNDI) shot up more than 5.5% following a 6% surge in half year pre-tax profit. All this was somewhat countered, however, by IAG's (LON:ICAG) 4% decline, the airline operator disappointing investors as it missed Q2 operating profit forecasts.
After being battered on Thursday following the one-two hit of a hawkish statement from the Federal Reserve and a dovish hike from the Bank of England, sterling is looking pretty sickly, slipping another 0.3% against the dollar to worryingly fall below $1.30. Against the euro, meanwhile, it dipped 0.2%, sending it back towards €1.122.
There’s a fair amount of data for investors to wade through this Friday. Before the afternoon’s US non-farm jobs report, one that has gained added important following Wednesday’s Fed statement, there’s the UK services data. The PMI is expected to slip from 55.1 to 54.7, more in line with the movement seen by Wednesday’s manufacturing reading than Thursday’s surprisingly strong construction number.
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