Market Overview
Market buzz: Tesco-Booker deal voted through, pound clobbered on Brexit
1559: Tesco and Booker Group shareholders have both voted through the supermarket giant's contentious £3. 7bn takeover of the country's leading wholesaler.
Market buzz: US consumer confidence at 2000 high, 'keep calm' on Italian election
1700: Ten-year US Treasury note yields have popped higher. Significantly, in response to a question from one of the Congressmen, Fed chair Powell stated that: "My personal outlook for the economy has strengthened since December. " 1640: Don't worry about the Italian election, says Citi, offering its "humble suggestion. to stop reading stuff (apart from this quick note of course) and quietly wait for March 5th". Analysts said they think that the combination of the technicalities of the Rosatellum along with the large number of undecided voters make historically already unreliable polls even less reliable.
Market buzz: 'Human-mouse' sends stock flying, AA skids out of the 250
1702: London's top flight share index finished up 0. 62% at 7,289. 58 on Monday, while the pound edged lower by 0. 12% against the dollar to 1. 3951 and by 0. 13% against the European single currency to 1. 1346.
Market buzz: Stocks jump off lows ... led by defensives
1731: Interest rate sensitive stocks paced gains on the top flight index on Friday, with BT Group, United Utilities, Severn Trent, British America Tobacco and British Land at the top of the leaderboard. In the background, yields on longer-term Gilts were lower, tracking a fall in those for similarly-dated Treasuries on other side of the Atlantic. Triggering those moves was what some observers described as a less hawkish than expected monetary policy report to Congress from the Federal Reserve.
Market buzz: Bond yields dip, GDP cut hits pound, Stobart talk lifts Flybe
1644: The yield on the benchmark 10-year US Treasury note was down by four basis points to 2. 91% after hitting a high of 2. 96% during the previous session, while that on the two-year note is one basis point lower to 2. 25%. No immediate trigger for the move is apparent. The FTSE 100 lost 29 points or 0. 4% to finish Thursday's session at 7,252. 39.
Market buzz: Carney's inflation chat sends pound higher
1645: After starting in the red, the FTSE 100 has steadily strengthened as the session wore on. It finished at 7,281. 57, up 34. 8 points or 0. 48%. Here's a closing comment from market analyst Joshua Mahony at IG. "With a morning’s worth of disappointing eurozone PMI surveys, we have seen Carney’s inflation report testimony drag EURGBP lower despite today’s jump in UK unemployment. While Carney’s expectation of three rate rises over the next three years will grab the headlines, the fact that the bank aims to be ‘nimble’ given Brexit uncertainty points towards a strong chance we may never see all three hikes materialise should a preferential deal not be achieved.
Market buzz: FTSE 250 outshines sibling as HSBC weighs, look forward to Lloyds
1745: Tomorrow is a big, big day in the financial calendar - especially with respect to interest rate expectations on both sides of the Atlantic. In the morning we have crucial UK labour market data that could heat up or cool down anticipation of the Bank of England's rate-hike path for 2018. Later the FOMC minutes from the last policy meeting will be pounced upon by Wall Street for a close reading to spot any slight change in nuance over rates. In between we have initial Eurozone purchasing managers' surveys and as an entrée there will be a host of corporate results, inlcuding from Lloyds Banking Group, Glencore, Barratt Developments and Metro Bank.
Market buzz: FTSE adds 200 points over week, dollar facing 'volatile weeks'
1635: The FTSE 100 closed 59. 89 points or 0. 83% higher at 7,294. 70 on Friday, adding 202. 5 or 2. 9% over the week. The pound is off it's lows from earlier in the afternoon, but still down 0. 3% against the dollar at 1. 4055 but up 0. 2% on the euro at 1. 1294.
Market buzz: Bitcoin approaching $10K, US econ data 'unspectacular'
1500: Despite the recent more than havling in its price, Bitcoin is still out there (somewhere . probably), with prices edging back towards the $10,000 mark. "Volatility and bitcoin go together hand-in-hand, so expect plenty more highs and lows over the coming weeks and months," writes Dennis de Jong at UFX. Despite Berkshire Hathaway's Charles Munger dubing it "noxious poison", de Jong believes that won't stop investors from plunging their money in. As an aside, CBoE's VIX down 4.
Market buzz: Some analysts see four Fed hikes, Fed funds futures still say otherwise
1847: Northern Ireland talks collapse. DUP's Arlene Foster points to disagreements over a "stand alone" Irish Language Act as the main stumbling block, BBC reports.
Market buzz: Sky and BT win most Premier League TV rights
1920: English Premier League football TV broadcasting rights for the three seasons beginning 2019/20 have been decided - well most of them. BT Sport and Sky Sports have defended well, keeping most of the games for a cost of £4. 46bn, with two of the seven live broadcasting packages still to be confirmed by the EPL, which said there was "interest from multiple bidders". BT Group has secured a package of 32 games per season for a total across the three seasons of £885m.
Market buzz: Fed apparently not stressing
1630: Fed not stressing, Michael Gapen and Pooja Sriram at Barclays believe, telling clients: "US equity markets falling into correction territory in recent days begs the question of how far equities would have to fall, or volatility to rise, for the Fed to consider a delay to its policy plans. We think it is too early for the Fed to consider altering course and we believe the committee will likely take some comfort in the tightening in financial conditions as it will reduce the risk of a hard landing over time.
Market buzz: FTSE flops after market's worst week since 2008
1650: By the close on Friday, the FTSE 100 had fallen 78. 26 points or 1. 09% to end at 7,092. 43, which is a fall of almost 5% for the week and almost 8% from the high of mid-January. Swissquote analysts added their tuppenceworth: "Markets remain on edge as growing unease over higher inflation and policy rates have sent equites into a tailspin. Global stocks sold off-across the board, bond yields rallied while volatility, hibernating until now, surged. Yet, signs of real 'normalization' remain distant.
Market Buzz: Stocks fall back as MPC rewrites script
1700: Close The Footsie gave back the lion's share of the previous session's gains as a more hawkish-than-expected MPC saw 10-year Gilts slump, pushing their yield up by as much as 11 basis points to 1. 66% at one point. However, some analysts cautioned that markets might be getting a little ahead of themselves. Thus, and on the more dovish side of things, Bank of America-Merrill Lynch told clients: "So we now expect a 25bp Bank Rate hike in May and another in February 2019.
Market buzz: Calm returns but 'risk appetite yet to reappear'
European equities are higher on Wednesday morning, following a rebound overnight in the US that continued in Asia.
Market buzz: Wall Street regains its nerve
After two days of blood-letting that sparked a global stock market selloff and worries that more was to come, Wall Street held its nerve on Tuesday after an initial lurch lower and ended the session in the green.