The FTSE has started this morning’s session in a positive fashion, up 0.2% in early trading, helped by a 5% boost by AstraZeneca’s announcement of positive results from their lung cancer drug trials.
LCG Analyst, Ipek Ozkardeskaya noted – “The FTSE 100 found buyers at Friday’s open, as the Bank of England meeting temporarily dented the appetite in the pound market. It seems like the pound traders temporarily abandoned their $1.30 target, after the Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said that the ‘low rates are not excessive’, they are ‘appropriate’. He also added that the wages growth is not expected to be ‘especially fast’, which partially explained the expectations of weaker inflationary pressures moving forward.”
Meanwhile, US equity markets halted their recent run of impressive form, as all three major indices staged their biggest retreat in 3 weeks.
Accendo Markets Analyst, Mike van Dulken commented – “The most notable loser was the Nasdaq, as the tech-focused index broke a streak of four consecutive record high closes on account of Snap Inc-inspired weakness, while a disappointing earnings release from Macy’s saw Retail stocks weigh on both the Dow Jones and S&P 500 ahead of today’s US Retail Sales data release.”
In focus today will be Eurozone Industrial Production, forecast to rebound to 0.3% in March from -0.3% in February, back to the levels last seen around the turn of the year. This afternoon, US CPI data is likely to bounce back in April while US Retail Sales are expected to deliver a strong return to growth.
Mike van Dulken also noted – “Retail Sales Ex-Autos should recover from a flat March but the Control Group may slow up a little while Real Average Earnings could steal the show given the Fed’s focus on inflationary pressures.”
