Unlike the Next drama or Persimmon boost seen earlier this week there was no major earnings news this Friday to drive trading, leaving the FTSE to flounder around 7180. The index couldn’t even take any solace from the pound’s slight weakening, with sterling dropping 0.2% against both the euro and the dollar (though cable doesn’t find it too far away from yesterday’s near 3 week high after 2 days of solid growth).
Following the steady stream of PMIs since Tuesday the UK’s empty economic calendar suggests it might be hard for the FTSE to find any upwards momentum as the day goes on. Or, at the very least, it may have to wait until the final Obama-era non-farm jobs report from the US this afternoon for something a bit more interesting.
Over in the Eurozone things were a bit more overtly negative, with the DAX and CAC falling 0.2% and 0.3% respectively. The DAX has already dealt with its major data for the day; German factory orders came in as expected at -2.5%, a sharp decline from the previous month’s 5.0%, while retail sales came in far worse than forecast at -1.8%.
