It’s Thursday, and so far this week it’s been all about the Central Banks. There have been monetary policy calls from both the Bank of Japan and the Federal Reserve, which have provided equity markets with some meaningful direction.
Janet Yellen’s comments in the wake of the Fed’s decision last night to hold fire may have been seen as confusing by some, but the dovish undertone has certainly helped cheer commodity prices. As a result, it’s the natural resource stocks that are dominating the leader board in early London trade, whilst Pearson is lagging in the wake of a broker downgrade.
Dividends have had little effect on the FTSE 100 this Thursday morning with Old Mutual being the only blue chip stock turning ex-div, and we’ve got a relatively quiet day ahead in terms of economic data, too. The ECB’s economic bulletin release may provide some direction in the short term, but otherwise sentiment is more likely to be dictated by further debate over the Federal Reserve’s strategy. A rate hike across the Atlantic may still be expected by the year-end, but it’s far from being a certainty.
