The FTSE 100 is flat in early trading this morning following a mixed Asian session at odds with yesterday’s positive US close.
The main focus for investors today will be the Euro, ahead of the ECB Rate Decision meeting and Mario Draghi’s press conference. ADS Securities Analyst, Konstantinos Anthis suggested “The head of the ECB was expected to signal a change in policy at the Jackson Hole meeting. But this did not happen and over the last few weeks he has kept very quiet.”
“So the market is not entirely sure what to expect from today’s meeting regarding a possible reduction of ECB’s asset purchases program and this is evident by the way the euro has been trading all week.”
In the US, equity markets closed higher yesterday “following the announcement of the debt ceiling extension, paring losses from earlier in the session.” noted Accendo Markets Analyst, Mike van Dulken.
“The S&P 500 outperformed, rallying 0.3% as Energy names led the index higher, while both the Dow Jones and the Nasdaq finished close behind, up 0.25% and 0.28% respectively.”
