Proactive Investors -
- DAX trumps European markets
- Asda to lift customer purchase limits
- HS2 delays announced
No relief for FTSE 100 as Wall Street to open lower
Wall Street is expected to open down as markets continue to digest two days of testimony to Congress by Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell, with a monthly jobs report and next week’s consumer inflation data likely to determine the extent of the Fed’s next interest rate hike.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.1% in Thursday pre-market trading, while those for the broader S&P 500 index shed 0.3% and contracts for the Nasdaq-100 declined 0.6%.
US stocks ended mixed on Wednesday after Powell softened his tone on the second day of his semi-annual monetary policy report to lawmakers. The DJIA closed 0.2% lower at 32,799, while the Nasdaq Composite added 0.4% to 11,576 and the S&P 500 gained 0.1% to 3,992. The small-cap Russell 2000 index fell 1 point to 1,877.
“After the sizeable losses on Tuesday, markets showed signs of stabilising over the last 24 hours as Fed chair Powell put forward a slightly softer message on the pace of future rate hikes,” commented Deutsche Bank strategist Jim Reid.
“He was appearing before the House Financial Services Committee, where he delivered almost exactly the same testimony as he had to the Senate Banking Committee the previous day," he added.
"However, there was one important caveat added, since when referring to his comments that ‘we would be prepared to increase the pace of rate hikes’, he said ‘I stress that no decision has been made on this’. So a clear message that faster rate hikes were not a done deal just yet.
“Whilst Powell was trying to steer us away from a specific outcome, ultimately the decision was always going to depend significantly on tomorrow’s jobs report, as well as the CPI release on Tuesday," Reid said.
The US jobs report, out on Friday, is expected to show non-farm payrolls increased by 205,000 in February after showing a massive ga
Asda reportedly dropping certain customer purchase limits
Asda is dropping its customer purchase limits on certain fruit and vegetables, various sources including The Guardian are reporting.
Supermarkets including Asda, Tesco, Aldi and Lidl imposed limits in February on peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers and other fresh produce amid widespread supply shortages.
Asda confirmed it had removed limits of three on cucumbers, lettuce, salad bags, broccoli, cauliflower and raspberries, leaving restrictions on just tomatoes and peppers.
According to the Guardian, the supermarket has seen an improvement in overall availability, while supplies of tomatoes and peppers were also expected to rebound in the coming weeks.
FTSE 100 continues to lead European losses, junior propped up by natural resources stocks.
After making slight gains in the late-morning trading session. Footsie has retreated back to 7,883, marking 58 points of losses this Thursday.
Spirax and Rio Tinto remain at the bottom of the blue-chip pile following a drop in the Shanghai and the Hong Kong markets.
On the junior AIM market, natural resources shares are having a good showing. Top of the pack is Atlantic Lithium, which has chalked up 30% in gains after a brief trading suspension.
The company issued a response to "false and misleading” reports of impropriety made by short-seller Blue Orca Capital regarding its partner Piedmont Lithium Inc released by on March 8.
“The report is clearly intended to benefit Blue Orca Capital, which, in the report itself, has disclosed that it is short selling and stands to profit in the event that the stock price of Piedmont Lithium Inc. declines,” said Atlantic, cautioning investors not to make decisions based on the report, which it considers “factually untrue”.
Smaller caps including Pathera Resources and Strategic Minerals are have also posted double-digit gains.
Pound on a good footing
Sterling has gained over 40 pips against the US dollar in the European trading window and a more modest 11 pips against the euro.
That is despite dovish rhetoric emerging from Bank of England policymaker Swati Dhingra.
Yesterday, Dhingra used her first external speech since joining the Monetary Policy in September 2022 to make the case for holding rates where they are.
“In my view, a prudent strategy would hold policy steady amid growing signs external price pressures are easing, and be prepared to respond to developments in price evolution. This would avoid overtightening,” Dhingra said.
Swati Dhingra has given her first speech since joining the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee @lizzzburden looks at what she had to say — and what it tells us about the BOE's next decision on interest rates https://t.co/LRwIGGSRNm pic.twitter.com/29biG9NGRx— Bloomberg UK (@BloombergUK) March 9, 2023
Aviva (LON:AV) remains top of the FTSE 100 pile, extending daily gains above 3% in early-afternoon trades after its strong trading update.
Fellow insurance firms Prudential (LON:PRU) and Legal & General are also at the top, alongside British publishing group Informa