Trading News and Research

After the sluggish wages data yesterday, the pound was hit again this morning on news UK inflation remained flat in June, raising further doubts over an August rate hike from the Bank of England. But this was good news for the stock markets, with the commodity-heavy FTSE 100 extending its gains after a sizeable rally the day before and despite ongoi...

Risk remained on the table in the first half of European session. Safe haven gold and yen fell while stock indices pushed higher with the German DAX printing a new high for the week and reached its best level since early February.

The UK’s FTSE 100 index has had an amazing run of late, outperforming many of its peers. It has been supported above all by a weaker pound after a run of poor economic pointers sharply reduced the probability of a Bank of England rate increase in May.

The US-led strikes against Syria turned out to be a non-event as far the markets are concerned and fortunately there were no reports of casualties.

After Monday's bounce and a firmer open this morning, bearish speculators evidently stepped back in at relatively higher levels.