Asia
Wall Street’s strong performances overnight helped maintain this week’s positive moves in Asian equities. Again, China and Hong Kong were the strongest markets, but Japan’s Topix and Nikkei indices were higher despite a strengthening of the yen against the dollar. Japanese markets are closed on Thursday for Labour Thanksgiving Day.
Europe
On Budget day, the pound attempted a rally against the dollar but that petered out quickly. Sterling lost ground against the euro, allowing the FTSE 100 to move back tentatively towards the 7,500 resistance level.
Despite unveiling a mixed set of third-quarter results on Tuesday, B&Q owner Kingfisher (KGF) was the biggest riser on the FTSE 100 on Wednesday morning. Yesterday the company said that its Screwfix division was outerperforming, while sales fell at B&Q and stagnated in France.
On the FTSE 250, Thomas Cook (TCG) shares slid nearly 10% as full-year results were mired by higher prices, sterling weakness and intense competition in Spain. Full-year profits fell 40% on 2016.
The travel company’s poor results also dragged down shares in rival operator Tui (TUI), which is currently at the bottom of the FTSE 100
Euro strength took the edge off Germany’s Dax as the country’s political crisis rumbles on.
North America
The last trading day before Thanksgiving is unlikely to throw up too many surprises, particularly as indices racked up another positive day on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 hitting 2,600 points for the first time and the Nasdaq also reaching a new record.
In a speech to New York University Stern Business School on Tuesday night, Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen said that low inflation remains a puzzle to the Fed board. This sparked a weakening in the dollar against major currencies as the more hawkish case of multiple interest rate rises next year seemed less likely.
Customer relationship management firm Salesforce (CRM) reported earnings after the market close which beat Wall Street estimates but the shares fell nearly 2% in after-hours trading.
Durable goods orders for October are expected to show a rise of 0.4%, compared with a gain of 2% in September.
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