Spreadex Market Update

Trump’s trade optimism overshadows impeachment, pound remains glum



Recovering from their panicked trading by the end of Wednesday, investors chose to buy into Trump’s trade optimism, allowing the markets to push higher at the start of Thursday.

It appeared Trump’s claim that a deal with China could arrive sooner than people think outweighs any other destabilising factors surrounding his presidency, namely the threat of impeachment relating to the Ukrainian scandal. The European markets finished up Wednesday essentially flat, while the Dow Jones managed to climb back towards 27000.

That left the likes of the FTSE and co. in pretty decent shape this morning. The DAX, still yet to recover its manufacturing-related losses, nevertheless rose 0.2% to strike 12250, while the CAC climbed 0.3% to graze 5590.

The FTSE was the best performer, re-crossing 7300 thanks to a half a percent increase – this despite a terrible Thursday for two of its components. Pearson plunged 16% after issuing a profit warning related to a weaker-than-expected performance from its US higher education courseware arm. IAG, meanwhile, lost almost 4% after revealing operating profit will be €215 million lower year-on-year, in large part due to the €137 million cost of September’s 2-day pilot strike.

More important to the UK index, however, is, a) the Trump trade stuff, and b) the perilous state of the pound. Though the currency avoided further losses this Thursday – for now, anyway – Wednesday’s election-fearing fall caused cable to hit a 2-week low of $1.235, while forcing sterling under €1.129 against the euro.

Looking further ahead to this afternoon and the data-highlight is the final Q2 GDP reading out of the US, one that is expected to hold at the 2.0% estimate produced at the last reading.

SEARCH FOR AN ARTICLE:

Enter a keyword and search for all relevant articles

MARKET ANALYSIS

RECENT POSTS

Economic Diary

23.04.26

Read More

Financial Trading Blog

Gold Wobbles Ahead of Global PMIs

Read More

Daily Market Update

22.04.26 Wednesday Morning

The S&P 500 closed lower on Tuesday as doubts over the Iran ceasefire weighed on sentiment, while the US dollar...

Read More

Economic Diary

22.04.26

Read More

Financial Trading Blog

FTSE 100 Under Pressure From Oil Ahead of CPI, Sainsbury's Earnings

Read More

Economic Diary

21.04.26

Read More

DISCLAIMER


Spread bets and CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 61% of retail investors lose money when trading spread bets and CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how spread bets and CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money. For professional clients, spread betting and CFD trading can also result in losses larger than your initial stake or deposit.

Spreadex Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, provides an execution only service and does not provide advice in any way. Nothing within this update should be deemed to constitute the provision of investment advice, recommendations, any other professional advice in any way, or a record of our trading prices. This update does not constitute or form part of an offer of, or solicitation for a transaction in any financial instrument, nor shall it or the fact of its distribution form the basis of, or be relied on in connection with, any contract therefore. Any persons placing trades based on their interpretation of the comments or information within this update does so entirely at their own risk.

No representation, warranty, or undertaking, express or limited, is given as to the accuracy or completeness of the information or opinions contained within this update by Spreadex Ltd or any of its employees and no liability is accepted by such persons for the accuracy or completeness of any such information or opinions. As such, no reliance may be placed for any purpose on the information and opinions contained within this update.

The information contained within this update is the intellectual property of Spreadex Ltd and is protected by UK and International copyright laws. All rights reserved. Users may however freely download, distribute and reproduce extracts of the contents, subject always to accrediting Spreadex Ltd as the source and providing a hyperlink to www.spreadex.com.