Buoyed by the resilience of the last few sessions the markets started to stretch their legs this Thursday, gradually clawing back some of the hefty losses seen in early February’s bloodbath.
The FTSE managed to cross 7250 as the day went on, its 0.5% increase taking the index to its best price in more than a week. The DAX was similarly perky, teasing 12450 with a 60 point rise. The CAC, however, took the European crown; the index shot up 1.2%, not only lifted by the market-wide recovery but news that 2017 saw the French unemployment rate fall below 9% for the first time in nearly 9 years.
What’s interesting is that this robust European growth is coming despite the dollar returning to the weakened state that defined its end to 2017 and start to 2018. Against the pound the greenback shed 0.5%, taking cable above $1.405, while against the euro it lost 0.3%, leaving the single currency achingly close to January’s $1.25 3 and a bit year highs.
Looking to this afternoon and the Dow Jones is set to continue to positive vibes, with the futures suggesting a 200-plus point climb when the bell rings on Wall Street. That would take the Dow back above 25100, and see it on track for a nice little run of green sessions to counter the previous fortnight’s bloody scenes. There is a decent amount of data for the Dow to wade through if it is to close up on the day, though arguably only the latest PPI reading – expected to rise from -0.1% to 0.4% – has the potential to move the markets.
Elsewhere Bitcoin has been enjoying its own comeback. After a few weeks blighted by bad news, be it related to regulation changes, advertisement bans or government investigations, the cryptocurrency is once again eyeing $10000, rising around 3% to re-cross $9500 – for context, Bitcoin had fallen all the way to $5900 less than 2 weeks ago.
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