The FTSE opened flat this Monday morning following the rollercoaster ride that last week’s calendar provided.
ConvaTec is today’s biggest FTSE 100 riser. However, this morning’s 5% share price jump does little to arrest the troubled Group’s recent performance.
In addition, “A decent smattering of gains in the commodity sector, specifically the miners, is helping prop the UK index up, following a 1.2% jump from copper.” suggested Spreadex analyst, Connor Campbell.
The Pound is flat too this morning. Investors are showing little desire in backing Sterling to lift it from last week’s fall following the Bank of England’s caution amidst it’s interest rate rise announcement on Thursday.
The US dollar remains strong this morning despite Friday’s disappointing US Non-Farm Payrolls report. FxPro analyst Edward Anderson commented “Whilst the NFP data was below forecasts the job growth underscored the recent Fed statement that “the labor market has continued to strengthen” and has done little to change expectations of a rate hike in December.”
“More upbeat data came in the form of the unemployment rate at 4.1% a rate not seen in 17 years. President Trump tweeted after the data release ‘JOBS, JOBS, JOBS!'”
US equity markets finished the week with another positive day across the board as the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq all closed at fresh record highs. Accendo Markets analyst, Henry Croft noted “The Nasdaq outperformed as Apple and Qualcomm led the Tech sector higher, with the former also helping the Dow higher by offsetting Goldman Sachs weakness while the latter led gainers on the S&P.”
