Overturning its initial wobble, the FTSE just about squeaked out a fresh high as Wednesday went on.
Having initially dropped 0.3%, the UK index managed to edge up 0.1%, teasing 7180 in the process. That its banking stocks reversed their initial losses certainly helped, as did the accelerated gains for Barratt Developments (LON:BDEV), which doubled its early growth to climb 3.9%, and the continuation of BP’s post-earnings beat rise, with the oil giant adding another 1.3% to hit a 2 month high.
Limiting the FTSE’s rally was Ocado (LON:OCDO). Just one day after its (eventually) well-received full year results, a major fire at its Andover customer fulfilment centre forced the online supermarket to warn that the incident will constrain its ability to meet its ‘growing customer demand’ and would therefore lead to a ‘reduction in sales growth’ until it can increase capacity elsewhere. This caused the stock to plunge more than 8%, erasing the gains made on Tuesday.
Following that recession-suggesting German factory orders, the DAX found it difficult to shake its losses, instead remaining down 0.4% and the wrong side of 11320; the CAC was a bit more successful, reducing its fall to just a handful of points.
Taking a mild morning as its cue, the Dow Jones is set to dip 50 or so points when the bell rings on Wall Street, a move that would cause it to drop below the 25400, 2 month peak struck on Tuesday evening.
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