Once again the markets opened higher thanks to a wave of lockdown-easing measures around the globe, and Europe especially.
The FTSE, back in action after last Friday’s VE Day celebrations, shot up 0.9% at the start of the week, pushing the index within a handful of points of 6000, a level at which it last spent any real time at the end of April.
This despite the UK’s own murky lockdown situation. Boris Johnson unveiled an unclear, and arguably irresponsible, set of measures on Sunday evening, pushing the country’s most economically vulnerable back to work despite the government’s own made-up warning system sitting at a 4 out of 5. This while allowing people to sit 2 metres apart from strangers in a park without giving any word on when they can see loved ones in different households.
Given the market’s utter lack of interest in the recent job losses in the US, it shouldn’t be a surprise that a purely positive view was taken of what was announced by Johnson in his faux-Churchillian manner on Sunday, allowing the FTSE to bound out of the gates.
An element of catch-up is also involved, the UK index making up for missing last Friday, a session that saw the Dow Jones surge higher on a marginally better than forecast nonfarm jobs report. Better than forecast in this case meaning only 20.5 million jobs were lost in April, sending the unemployment rate to 14.7%, not the 16.0% expected. Still feeling the effects of this, the Dow is looking for another 150 points when trading starts stateside this afternoon.
Though not quite as perky, the Eurozone indices still rose as France, Belgium and Greece take steps towards easing lockdown. The DAX crossed 10950 with a 50 point climb, while the DAX held above 4550 as it added 0.3%.
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