Though slower than at the morning’s peak, Friday’s afternoon session looks set to ensure the first week of 2018 is a doozy.
Predictably the Dow Jones opened at yet another record high, lurking just below 25150 after adding another 50 or so points. This despite what was a pretty disappointing afternoon for data. The non-farm employment change number sharply underperformed estimates – especially after the strength of Thursday’s ADP reading – at 148k against the 190k forecast and the 252k seen the month previous, while the ISM services PMI unexpectedly dropped from 57.4 to 55.9 month-on-month.
Interestingly the dollar, which has been weak for a while now, didn’t take all this too badly. Though it slipped 0.1% against the pound, it rose 0.3% against the euro and 0.3% against the yen – still a fraction of what it has lost recently, but better than nothing.
The pound’s gains against both the greenback and the euro meant the FTSE pulled back from its earlier record highs, though with a 10 point rise it remains the right side of 7700. As for the DAX and CAC, they’re largely unchanged since lunchtime, jumping 1.1% and 0.8% respectively.
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