Market Updates.

Looking at the intraday performance of the FTSE 100, the index hit a post-pandemic high this week on the news of BP profits hitting an eight-year high after oil and gas prices surged last year.

The most notable data we had to start the week was the Purchasing Managers’ Index, which you will hear referred to as PMI. It is a monthly measure providing information about current and future business conditions.

US markets were closed on Monday for Martin Luther King Jr day.

In the US, the New York Federal Reserve released a survey of consumer expectations on Monday, which showed households in the US had a positive outlook on the jobs market.

‘Twas the week before Christmas, and all markets saw, was a week packed with data and monetary policy galore!

Whilst markets bounced back at the beginning of this week, comforted by reports that so far it does not look like there is a great degree of severity to the Omicron variant, it is still the elephant in the room, and as we said earlier in the week, until clarity is obtained, markets are likely to trade on headlines causing volatility in the short term.

Markets globally have been on a ride so far this week, driven by the Omicron variant of the coronavirus and associated snippets in the news, leaving us with a November to remember.

Global equity markets have had a volatile start to the week thanks to speculation that the Fed will speed up the pace of its QE tapering, coupled with concerns that the resurgence in coronavirus cases across Europe will slow the global economic recovery.

After the explosions and excitement of bonfire night festivities over the weekend, markets have come up for air this week, and have broadly been flat.

In what has been a positive start to the week for markets, data releases have been somewhat muted.