Rising around 1% the FTSE spent the morning hitting fresh all-time highs, sporadically crossing the 7440 mark. The mining sector is providing the thrust of the index’s growth, with Anglo American leading the charge with a near 9% surge. The Eurozone, meanwhile, maintained its own healthy gains this Thursday, the DAX and CAC jumping 0.9% and 0.7% respectively as investors celebrate Mark Rutte’s defeat of the anti-EU, anti-immigrant Geert Wilders in the Dutch general election.
As for the pound, with interest rates set to remain unchanged following this afternoon’s Bank of England meeting, and the Queen giving her royal assent to the triggering of Article 50, the currency had fallen by 0.4% against the dollar and 0.5% against the euro. Sterling will likely need Mark Carney and co. to sound more hawkish than expected if it is to recover these losses as the day progresses.
Looking to the US open and the Dow Jones should continue to benefit from the Fed’s cautious rate hike after the bell, the futures suggesting the index will just about cross 20100 with a 75 point rise. With the increase in interest rates widely expected investors’ attention was on just how hawkish Janet Yellen and her colleagues would come across on Wednesday evening. And, as evidenced by the market reaction, the statement ending up working in the Dow not dollar’s favour thanks to the fact that a) the decision wasn’t unanimous, and b) the central bank still has 3, not 4, hikes pencilled in across 2017 (including the one last night).
