‘Falling oil prices and global yields push stock indices higher for a third week in a row’, says Axel Rudolph, Senior Market Analyst at online trading platform IG.
Major equity indices trade around their July peaks
“A forth straight week of falling oil prices – by over 12% – and rapidly declining global yields have given risk-on sentiment another boost. European equity indices have seen further strong gains as the Eurozone posts the largest current account surplus in over two years. Their US counterparts fared less well as rising US jobless claims on Thursday and poor results from Walmart pointed towards a possible cooling of the US economy.”
Disappointing UK retail sales
“Despite much weaker-than-expected UK retail sales the FTSE 100 gained over 1% amid an oil price recovery from four-month lows. Unexpectedly strong US housing starts and building permits, a forward-looking indicator of future construction, didn’t quite manage to keep US stocks in the green on the last day of their three-week gain.”
