Wall Street Stocks Struggle Despite Positive US Employment Data
UK Market Comment, 6 January 2012
Closing comments from Chris Beauchamp, Market Analyst, IG Index:
Heading into the close the FTSE 100 looks set to finish around 17 points higher, failing to hold on to all its gains despite a buoyant Non Farm Payrolls report.
Now that the excitement of Christmas and new year is out of the way, markets are definitely in sulk mode.
Two days of excellent US unemployment data, something for which we’ve been fervently hoping, has not been enough to spark any sustained rally on Wall Street.
The all-important Non Farm Payrolls figures beat expectations by a wide margin, with the US adding 200,000 jobs in December instead of the forecast 155,000.
Some might mutter darkly about 'seasonal variations', but the gain is still fairly substantial, and adds to the weight of opinion that the good ship USA is finally moving down the slipway to prosperity.
At any rate, the news will cheer Democrats and disappoint Republican PR spinners with an eye on the November presidential elections.
Nonetheless, anyone hoping for a strong rally on markets this afternoon has been sorely disappointed, with the US remaining stubbornly in the red and the FTSE coming off its earlier highs.
Attention now shifts to Merkozy’s Monday lunch, where the two Eurozone powerhouses of France and Germany will discuss a new financial transaction tax and more economic convergence. Will anything useful emerge? Personally, I doubt it.
After that, we can all start looking forward to the next EU summit, which seem likely to be just as disappointing as the ones that preceded it.
The above comments do not constitute investment advice and neither IG Index nor Clean Financial accept any responsibility for any use that may be made of them.
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UK Market Comment, 5 January 2012
Closing comments from David Jones, Chief Market Strategist, IG Index:
Heading into the close, the FTSE looks set to finish near the lows for the day.
In the last few minutes of trade in London, the FSTE has continued its slide back towards the 5600 level.
We have had some positive UK service industry news today showing the fastest growth for five months, but this has been pushed to the background as European concerns move back to centre stage.
There was some brief respite provided by the better than expected ADP US employment data, raising hopes for a decent US Non Farm Payrolls reading tomorrow, but not even this was enough to change sentiment for any meaningful period.
After seemingly taking a few weeks off from agonising about the European crisis, the newswires have been playing an all-too-familiar tune today. Concerns over a potential Greek default in March, further borrowing by European banks, and now worries about contagion in Hungary.
The names may change but the uncertainty stays the same; it looks like it will take a much-better-than-expected US employment number on Friday to try and revive the post-Christmas rally in shares.
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'Wall Street Stocks Struggle Despite Positive US Employment Data' edited by AG, updated 06-Jan-12
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