Easing bond yields didn’t do much for Europe, with the markets eerily quiet at Wednesday’s open.
Falling on Tuesday, the FTSE 100 was at most down a handful of points after the bell, stuck around 6,890.
The index’s hopes of rebuilding momentum were in part harmed by Tesco (LON:TSCO), which fell more than 3% following its full year update.
In many ways it was a banner 12-months for Britain’s biggest supermarket, its pandemic offerings wooing customers away from its rivals and leading group sales 8.8% higher to £53.4 billion. Yet Covid-related costs were an unavoidable factor, causing profits to plummet 20% to £825 million, turning off investors in the process.
The FTSE 100 was hampered also by a rebounding pound. Sterling added 0.3% against the dollar and 0.2% against the euro, as it continues to try and claw back its recent losses.
Things were no more exciting in the Eurozone than they were in the UK. The DAX dropped 0.1% and the IBEX 0.2%, but with the CAC climbing 0.2% to a fresh all-time high of 6,200.
Closing lower following a higher than forecast set of inflation readings and news that the Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) vaccine rollout is to be paused, the Dow Jones still finds itself only 120 points off its all-time peak.
Wednesday is something of a break for the US markets, between the bond auction and inflation highlights of Monday and Tuesday, and the retail sales and Chinese data dump focus of Thursday and Friday respectively.
There is still, however, an import prices reading, set to drop from 1.3% to 1.0%, and an appearance from Jerome Powell, via satellite, at the Economic Club of Washington. Investors will be looking for comments on yesterday’s CPI outperformance, and reassurance that those numbers haven’t changed anything for the Fed.
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