It was a mixed affair on Thursday morning, the markets struggling a bit for direction on a fairly quiet week for data.
The DAX was the biggest mover after the bell, rising 0.8% – or just over 100 points – to climb within inches of 12600. This as German exports and imports rose 9% and 3.5% respectively in May – way off the 13.8% and 12% increases forecast, but still a huge turnaround from the deep, deep contractions posted in April.
The FTSE wasn’t so fortunate. Finding nothing to cheer about in Rishi Sunak’s summer statement – in part because much of it had already been leaked in the last week and a half – the UK index slipped a further 0.3% on Thursday, causing it to fall the wrong side of 6150.
Despite the regular daily headlines detailing the distance between the UK and EU’s negotiating positions, the pound is on quite the run at the moment. Eking out another 0.1% against both the dollar and euro alike, sterling is now sitting at its best levels for close to a month. That’s also another reason why the FTSE is feeling down in the dumps.
Looking ahead to this afternoon and the Dow Jones, which was up on Wednesday as it ignored reports of a record 60,000 new covid-19 cases, is set to retreat after the bell. The prospective 75 point decline would leave it teetering on the precipice of falling below 26000 once again.
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