Asia
China and Hong Kong markets closed the week with a daily gain, with the Shanghai Composite Index and the Hang Seng ending the day up less than 1%. Japan’s Nikkei outperformed these indices in percentage terms, despite an uptick in the yen against the dollar.
Europe
The FTSE 100 has made a positive start to 2019 in the first full trading week of the year. The index is now hovering around the 7,000 points level after a 50 point gain this morning, with housebuilders such as Taylor Wimpey (TW.) and Persimmon (PSN) on the ascendant after the former’s update earlier in the week.
In economic news, UK growth slowed down to 0.3% in the three months to the end of November, according to the Office for National Statistics. But with Jaguar Land Rover cutting thousands of jobs and the Brexit vote looming next week, investors and policymakers have more pressing concerns than GDP figures.
In the Eurozone, Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC drifted lower amid pressure on carmaker and retail stocks from negative newsflow on job cuts.
North America
A positive close on Wall Street overnight defied predictions from futures markets of an end to this week’s winning streak. The Dow Jones crept back above 24,000 with a rise of over 100 points, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq are close to 2,600 and 7,000 points respectively.
Currently optimism over trade talks – with a Chinese delegation set to visit the US this month – has gained the upper hand over the partial US government shutdown.
US inflation data for December on Friday is expected to show a drop in the rise in the cost of living from 2.2% in November to 1.9% in December – which would take CPI below the Fed’s inflation target.