Now (just) back above the 6900 mark the FTSE didn’t have much to do this morning, leaving the index to chug along with its meagre 0.1% decline. The most notable thing out of the UK continued to be the discussions surrounding Mike Ashley’s ascension to Sports Direct CEO following the departure of Dave Forsey. The investor-reaction to the Forsey/Ashley swap remains surprising, with Sports Direct now up around 6.5%, taking it to its highest price in just over a week.
The situation was similar in the Eurozone. Despite a batch of mixed PMIs, with the services sector tending to disappoint where the manufacturing readings surprised, the DAX and CAC failed to do much of anything, falling 0.1% and 0.3% respectively.
Looking ahead to the US open and the Dow Jones seems set to join its European peers in a rather meek showing, the futures pointing to an 11 point drop after the bell. Like the Eurozone the US reveals its flash Markit services PMI this afternoon, with analysts estimating a very minor increase from 52.0 to 52.1 month-on-month.
