A brief look at last week and the week ahead, the Weekly Review from IG Index.
Weekly Trading Report 8 March 2010 - Last Week's Trading Highlights
The FTSE marched steadily upwards through the week, passing the 5500 level on Wednesday for the first time since 20 January 2010.
News on Tuesday that UK consumer confidence reached a two-year high provided a welcome lift, though Thursday’s Halifax survey showing a 1.5% month-on-month fall in house prices tempered optimism.
HSBC provided the latest UK banking results on Monday, reporting a disappointing 24% slide in year-on-year pre-tax profit of £4.63 billion.
In contrast, Standard Chartered reported its seventh successive year of profit on Wednesday, up 13% compared to last year at a record £3.4 billion.
In the insurance sector, Prudential’s shares dropped a sharp 12% to 515p after the market reacted negatively to its plans to take over the Asian arm of AIG.
Meanwhile copper spreads jumped to the highest levels in five weeks after the earthquake in Chile. As the world’s premier copper miner, officials in Chile have promised to honour their export commitments, but even so prices hit $7600 a tonne last week; the highest since January.
As Greece’s crisis lingers on, the Euro hit its lowest levels against the Dollar for ten months on Tuesday, before clawing back some ground through the week. The Pound didn’t fare well either, dropping 0.3% to $1.4958 amid concerns over a possible hung parliament.
In the US, the eagerly awaited Non-farm payrolls showed 36,000 jobs were lost last month – though this beat estimates of a 50,000-65,000 net loss, the figure was worse than January’s 20,000 deficit.
On Thursday, the latest Fed Beige Book reported that the US economy continued to grow at a modest pace. The report did however reveal ongoing concerns for the housing market, with most districts listing commercial real estate and construction activity as weak or still in decline.
Monday’s data showing that January’s consumer spending increased for a fourth month and by 0.5% over the previous month, reinforced suggestions of a cautious economic recovery.
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Weekly Trading Report 8 March 2010 - The Week Ahead
Indicators
January retail sales kick off the UK schedule on Tuesday, with the NIESR GDP estimate and January industrial production data also in focus on Wednesday.
Analysts will be scrutinising these releases in the wake of the last week’s MPC decision on interest rates and the QE programme for any signs that Britain may be heading for a dreaded double-dip recession.
In the US, Wednesday’s Treasury budget statement will have an impact on both sides of the Atlantic.
Company Results and Reports
Results from Petrofac and International Power on Monday and Tuesday respectively will give a decent indication as to how the energy sector is currently faring.
Similarly, announcements from Antofagasta on Tuesday and Standard Life on Wednesday will be studied closely to see if there are any implications for the mining and financial sectors as a whole.
The above content does not constitute investment advice. Neither Online-Spread-Betting.com nor IG Index accepts any responsibility for any use that may be made of the above.
Remember that financial spread betting is a leveraged product and can result in losses that exceed your initial deposit. Spread betting may not be suitable for everyone, so please ensure that you fully understand the risks involved.
IG Index
- Live Prices, Charts, Indices, Equities, Commodities, Forex and more >> read the
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For previous weeks see below.
'Online Spread Betting', Review by D. Jones, last update: 8-Mar-10
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