Tuesday isn’t quite as data-intensive as Monday was, though the UK construction PMI could cause a further headache for the pound if it goes the way of yesterday’s manufacturing reading.
Things were pretty quiet after the bell. After a really miserable start to October, sterling is holding off on furthering its losses just yet. It opened flat against the dollar, the wrong side of $1.33, while pushing 0.1% higher against the euro. Without sterling weakness to fuel its rise, the FTSE struggled for momentum, instead twiddling its thumbs at 7430.
That could all change, however, dependent on the state of the construction data. Analysts are forecasting the PMI will remain at the 51.1 it unexpectedly slipped to in August. Worryingly, that figure is already low enough that another drop would see the construction sector teetering on the edge of contraction – no wonder the FTSE and pound are feeling tentative.
Elsewhere Greggs (LON:GRG) produced a plump Q3 pasty for the markets to tuck into, with like-for-like sales up 5% and total sales rising 8.6%, after the company opened net 66 new stores across the quarter. Crucially the booming bakery reaffirmed that the ‘headwinds’ from increased costs, something that had been an issue in the first half of the year, were easing. And while Greggs only rose 0.7% on the news, that increase was still enough to send the stock to a fresh 21-month high, the company continuing to ignore the wider service sector pressures impacting some of its peers.
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