After climbing more than 1% the UK index finds itself at its best price in 12 days, finally managing to see a substantial push beyond 6800. Much of that rise will be down to sterling’s contraction, with the currency dipping 0.2% against the dollar and half a percent against the euro; there was also the continued commodity rebound, with more gains for Brent Crude and, especially, copper leading to a swathe of green in the oil and mining sectors.
On top of all that came the news that the UK’s public sector net borrowing reading shrank from £9.2 billion (revised from £10.1 billion) to a better than forecast £4.3 billion month-on-month. That will please Philip Hammond before his big performance tomorrow, though he shouldn’t get overexcited as the UK is still expected to exceed the deficit estimates by £10 billion this year.
Looking ahead to the US open and, things could get interesting. The Dow Jones futures have the index a smidge away from 19000; in fact at points this morning the Dow has already crossed that landmark level. The news that Donald Trump is set to remove the US from the TPP agreement on his first day of office may have been a boost, as in theory it could help secure jobs inside the country (though that is up for debate).
