The combined benefits of Brent Crude’s latest rise, supposedly based on comments from Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro about the unicorn that is a an OPEC/non-OPEC output agreement, and the likelihood that the Federal Reserve won’t raise rates this month has ensured the European indices’ robust growth has stuck around this Monday morning.
It was an undoubtedly strong start to the week for the FTSE, which has maintained its near 100 point rise since the session began. Interestingly, despite holding onto its early growth, the UK index hasn’t been able to cross the 6800 mark with much purpose, instead merely dipping a toe across the level it abandoned last week. The pound has understandably also enjoyed the shift in sentiment in regards to what the Fed will do in Wednesday, taking nearly half a percent back off of a struggling dollar.
The situation was similar in the Eurozone. A worse than expected contraction in the region’s current account surplus (to €21 billion) for July was countered by an upwards revision to June’s reading (to €29.5 billion), meaning there was nothing to disrupt the DAX or CAC’s 0.8% and 1.5% gains respectively..
Looking ahead to the US open and the Dow Jones is set to join in with the day’s growth, though admittedly at a slower pace. The futures are pointing to a half a percent rise after the bell, a jump that would put the index back above the 18200 it fell below last Friday.
