US equity markets stage a minor recovery on Thursday as political tensions came off the boil, allowing all three major bourses to close higher.
Accendo Markets Analyst, Mike van Dulken commented – “Mixed results for Dow Jones components saw Wal-Mart lead the index higher, offsetting losses for Cisco, while Telecoms led 8 other sectors higher on the S&P 500 as Energy lagged behind the wider market. The Tech-focused Nasdaq once again returned to outperformance, benefiting from investor bargain hunting.”
The FTSE was one of the best European performers after the bell, as has been the case for the majority of the week, rising 0.4%. The pound, meanwhile, took 0.2% off the dollar, having breached the $1.30 level yesterday and fallen back sharply, while sitting 0.1% lower against the euro.
Spreadex Analyst, Connor Campbell noted – “Unlike Tuesday to Thursday, which saw a parade of heavy-hitting UK data, this morning’s economic calendar is rather barren. That leaves investors free to mull over Trump’s various misdeeds, and whether or not they want to get back on board a set of Western indices that, in the grand scheme of things, haven’t travelled too far from their highs.”
Over in the Eurozone there was a similar sense of relief, the DAX and CAC rising by 0.3% and 0.4% respectively. The region had further positive news this morning, with the Greek government agreeing to the latest austerity measures, clearing the way for the Eurogroup to unlock another €7.5 billion burst of bailout money on Monday.
