A positive swell of data has continued to boost the Eurozone this Monday morning; the FTSE’s gains, on the other hand, have gradually disappeared.
Despite solid growth in both its oil and mining sectors, alongside decent gains from key travel stocks like easyJet, the FTSE found itself with a meagre 5 point increase as lunchtime approached. Perhaps the pound’s mild increase against the dollar, rising 0.1% to near 1.225, and stability against the euro, with sterling sitting just under 1.125, put off investors; perhaps it was the sharp drop in CBI industrial order expectations, hitting a 7 month low of -17. Either way investors weren’t interested in carrying the FTSE any higher this Monday morning.
The Eurozone, meanwhile, went from strength to strength, the DAX and CAC now up just shy of 1% thanks to a series of sharp recoveries in the region’s manufacturing and services PMIs. Following on from the impressive readings out of Germany and France, the Eurozone-wide composite PMI hit a 10 month peak of 53.7, the region’s firms putting the Brexit firmly behind them.
Looking ahead to the US open and the Dow Jones looks set to recover some of the losses it incurred in the back end of last week, the futures suggesting an 80 point increase after the bell. It’s a big week for the Dow, with earnings from Apple on Tuesday and Google-parent Alphabet on Thursday; this afternoon, however, there isn’t as much to go on, with the flash manufacturing PMI, forecast at 51.6 against 51.5 last month, the only number of note.
