With the prospect of a decent US open on the horizon, and a string of upwards revised services PMIs across Europe, the markets kept up their Wednesday rally.
Now up 1.1%, the FTSE found itself inching closer and closer to 6300 following a final service PMI that came in at 29.0 against the 27.8 initial reading – still woeful, but not as dire as it was previously. A smattering of losses in its mining division – namely Rio Tinto (LON:RIO), BHP Group and Antofagasta (LON:ANTO) – alongside the pound’s gains helped keep the UK index from that key level.
Thanks to similar improvements in the Eurozone services PMIs – the region-wide figure was up to 30.5 from the flash 28.7 reading – the DAX and CAC levelled-up as the session went on. The German bourse climbed 300 points to tickle 12300, with its French counterpart hitting 4950 courtesy of a 2.2% increase.
As for the Dow Jones, its own gains are set to fall short of what has been seen in Europe, with the futures pointing to a 0.6% rise. That would still put it within a handful of points of 25900, the index continuing to pay no attention to America’s domestic troubles.
The pre-open ADP (NASDAQ:ADP) nonfarm unemployment rate figure, set to show that another 9 million jobs were lost in May, could pose a threat to the Dow’s gains, though going by recent weeks, investors aren’t too fussed about that any more.
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