Market News & Analysis

Sentiment on Capita began to deteriorate again over the summer

When UK PM Theresa May takes to the stage in Florence on Friday to give her lauded Brexit speech, she had better deliver. Not only will the eyes of the world and the financial market be upon her, but this speech has held up the fourth round of Brexit negotiations by a week.

Unless we see a shock outcome in the German elections on Sunday, the DAX looks set to expand further to the upside in the short term outlook.

The pound is drifting into tomorrow’s crucial Brexit speech from Theresa May. Her set piece in Florence will determine whether the pound finishes the week at 1.37 or back towards 1.32. The range-bound GBP/USD rate this week belies the importance of May’s speech as it will set out the next policy steps for the Brexit process.

September 20, 2017 – The Federal Open Market Committee issued its interest rate decision, monetary policy statement, and economic projections, followed by a closely-watched press conference on Wednesday afternoon

The Federal Reserve’s latest policy decision this evening is the main macro event for today and quite possibly for the week, unless the Bank of Japan comes up with something better tomorrow (unlikely).

Kingfisher's heavily de-rated shares were ready to spike higher on even the thinnest news

September 19, 2017 – With the conclusion of the FOMC September meeting scheduled for Wednesday afternoon, markets will get a long-awaited glimpse at the Fed’s current monetary policy stance as revealed through its prepared statement, press conference, and economic projections

Gold and silver have been largely out of favour since the end of the first week of September. The dollar selling paused and US equity indices hit repeated new all-time highs despite raised geopolitical tensions stemming from North Korea.

There has been an interesting divergence of late between the performance of the Dax and the FTSE 100. The two have diverged sharply in recent days, as you can see in the chart below, with the Dax surging ahead, while the FTSE 100 has been in the doldrums.

On Sunday 25th September Germany will go to the polls. Chancellor Angela Merkel is widely expected to win her fourth term in power, Oddschecker has Merkel’s victory at a 97% probability. Get our take on what this means for markets.

Ocado sales are growing faster than its rivals but that's not the main point.