With the Dow Jones back under 34,000 after freaking out at the thought of a Biden tax hike, the European markets were slow out of the gates on Friday morning.
As the flash manufacturing and services PMIs for April continue to roll out, the FTSE barely moved after the bell, dipping 15 points to sit at 6,920.
Following a rough few sessions, the pound, on the other hand, tried to pick itself up. Against the dollar it rose 0.4%, pushing back towards $1.389 – remember, at one point this week, GBP/USD crossed $1.40. Sterling benefited from a far better than forecast UK retail sales figure, the number hitting a 9-month peak of 5.4%.
The Eurozone indices echoed the slow start of the FTSE. With a rise in the German manufacturing PMI, but a dip in its services equivalent, the DAX was down 0.2%. The CAC, meanwhile, was flat, despite both French flash PMIs surpassing estimates.
Looking to this afternoon and the Dow Jones is straining to get back to 33,900, though is set to fall short with a 0.2% increase. As for the US PMIs, the manufacturing reading is expected to jump from 59.1 to 60.9, with the services figure climbing from 60.4 to 61.6.
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