With the newly inaugurated President still more interested in tearing things down (the latest example being the Trans-Pacific Partnership) than providing any insight to what policies he will put in place there was little reason for the Dow Jones to move this Tuesday. The index could barely crawl above 19800 after the bell, even with a stronger than forecast flash manufacturing PMI (which came in at 55.1 against the 54.6 expected).
As for the UK markets, a 12 point rise from the FTSE wasn’t exactly anything to write home about; neither, to be fair, were the pound’s 0.2% and 0.3% dips against the dollar and euro respectively. The Supreme Court ruling from this morning had minimal effect on sterling, basically because while it gave with one hand (insisting on parliamentary approval before Article 50 can be triggered) it took with another (stating that May and co. don’t need to consult the devolved parliaments).
And what of BT? Well, the toppled telecoms giant only saw things worse as the day went on, falling as much as 20% to loiter at a 3 and a half year low of £3.05. It is going to be a long road to recovery for BT, especially with the Ofcom/Openreach issue still unresolved as well; the company will be praying it can muster something positive to put out for Friday’s Q3 results.
