Waiting for tomorrow’s employment report.

2nd February 2012

Ian Copelin, Investment Director, my wealth, comments “Despite a flat day today, the FTSE-100 is heading for a third week of gains thanks to a strong run over the past couple of days.

The FTSE-100 had a breather today, rising just 5.35 points (0.1%) as investors wait for tomorrow’s US employment report (due at 1.30pm) to gauge the strength of the recovery in the world’s largest economy – yesterday (Wednesday 1 February), UK equities had their best day since 3 January, jumping 109.11 points (or 1.92%) as manufacturing data from China, Europe (where German output grew for the first time since September) and the US (where output rose to the highest level in seven months), exceeded expectations leading to optimism that Europe may avoid sliding back into recession and growth will boost company earnings further – so far this quarter, 169 of the 257 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported results have beat expectations.”