The prospect of a positive open in the US saw Europe’s rebound increase in stature oh so slightly as lunchtime approached this Wednesday.
The FTSE, as ever, lagged behind its peers as the day progressed, rising 0.3% to just about re-cross 7150. There were reasons that the index should be doing better, namely a fairly quiet showing from the pound – which sat flat against the dollar, admittedly at above $1.395, while nudging 0.1% higher against the euro – and a rather green mining sector following a blockbuster Chinese industrial production figure from Wednesday’s early hours.
The eurozone faired a bit better. The DAX jumped half a precept, lifting back above 12250, while the CAC reclaimed 0.6%. Mario Draghi ruffled few feathers with his address at an ECB conference Wednesday morning, stating that monetary policy ‘will remain patient, persistent and prudent’.
Turning to this afternoon and the Dow Jones is facing a 110 point leap when the bell rings on Wall Street. The Dow took a bit of a knock following the firing of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, closing the session a smidge below 25000. Its prospective gains would take it back above that level, though would leave it around 400 points adrift of the 25500-grazing March highs struck on Monday.
Whether those gains actually materialise at the open may be dependent on the US retail sales and PPI readings. The former is expected to jump from -0.3% to 0.3% month-on-month (the core figure is set to rise from 0.0% to 0.4%), but with the latter slipping from 0.4% to 0.1%, a mixture of hawkish and dovishness that may fail to move the needle this afternoon.
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