The FTSE is up 26 points in early trading with the miners bolstering the index through Antofagasta, Anglo American, Rio Tinto and Glencore. All of which posted positive gains this morning.
The FTSE has also been helped this morning by a stronger Dollar against the Pound following progress on Trump’s tax reform over in the US and investor expectations of a bullish new Federal Reserve Chair to replace the outgoing Janet Yellen.
On news last night that the Senate has passed a resolution that would allow President Trump to push forward with his tax reforms agenda, ADS Securities analyst, Konstantinos Anthis suggested “Throughout the year we have seen limited progress on tax and market participants had begun to lose hope we would see any action soon, but this news might be the first step towards a change in the US fiscal policy.”
The Pound meanwhile, is still dealing with the uncertainty surrounding a will they, won’t they interest rate hike in November following the Bank of England’s lack of clear direction. However, FxPro analyst, Edward Anderson suggested “With UK inflation running at 3% and wage growth stalling at 2.2% consumer spending is likely to remain depressed as we see out 2017. The markets believe that the Bank of England is likely to ignore such poor data as they consider hiking rates at their meeting on November 2nd.”
US equity markets overnight recovered from Wednesday’s Tech sector inspired dip, with the exception of the Tech-focused Nasdaq, to finish marginally higher at fresh record closing highs, just a day after their sharpest fall in a month. Accendo Markets analyst, Mike van Dulken noted “The Dow Jones closed just above break-even thanks to a strong performance for insurer Travelers, while the S&P 500 benefited from a 12% rally for Adobe, offsetting Tech weakness elsewhere after Apple fell on iPhone 8 demand concerns .”
