There was little to Tuesday’s open, the European indices barely flickering into life after the opening bell.
Despite strong earnings from HSBC (LON:HSBA) and BP (LON:BP) – the bank and oil firm rose 0.8% and 1.4% respectively, following surges in their first quarter profits – the FTSE barely budged.
The UK index was flat at 6,965, still having trouble get back above 7,000 following the rather significant wobble suffered this time last week.
Admittedly, the FTSE wasn’t alone in shying away from any major action as the session got underway. The DAX trickled 0.2% lower, slipping under 15,300, while the CAC was just as unchanged as its UK peer, sitting at 6,220.
At present the session isn’t looking like it is going to pick up this afternoon. The Dow Jones futures have the US index rising 0.1% at best, just about hefting it back across the psychologically significant 34,000 mark.
Unlike Wednesday and Thursday, which see the month’s Fed meeting and first glimpse US Q1 GDP reading respectively, Tuesday afternoon is fairly light on data. The most relevant figure is the CB consumer confidence number, which is expected to rise from 109.7 to 113.1.
As for earnings, Google-parent Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) both report after the market closes this evening.
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