The pound added to the previous session’s gains, during early Tuesday trading, continuing to climb back from the multi-year lows it touched last week in relation to the US dollar. Sterling is benefiting from surprisingly positive data released this Tuesday morning, with unemployment and wage figures both surpassing expectations, painting a more positive picture for the British economy than had been expected. Against such background, expectations have risen for the Bank of England to step-up the pace of monetary policy tightening; with inflation data being released tomorrow predicted to surpass 9%, officials at the BoE should have little choice but to continue to rise interest rates, creating scope for further pound gains.
Ricardo Evangelista – Senior Analyst, ActivTrades
European Shares
Shares continued to climb higher in Europe on Tuesday, alongside US Futures and Asian stocks, as “risk-on mood” grows everywhere. Investors’ appetite for riskier assets is on the rise after many welcomed today’s positive unemployment and GDP figures from France, Finland, and the UK. In addition, the improving virus situation in China is also blowing a wind of relief in investors’ trading minds. Fewer cases leading to less restrictions are sparking bets of a demand resurgence for some sectors and raising hopes of a solid recovery for the world’s second biggest economy. Elsewhere, investors are also digesting shifting monetary policies, with recent, optimistic, expectations that inflation may have peaked. That said, traders may be provided with more clues today as a batch of speeches from Fed members, including Chairman Jerome Powell, are due in the afternoon. Meanwhile, the STOXX-50 index now trades well above the 3,700pts mark, close to the upper band of its short-term bullish channel. The market, led by Energy shares such as Eni or TotalEnergies, is getting closer to a resistance level at 3,745.0pts, the first one before 3,815.0pts.
Experienced writer and journalist, working in the global online trading sector, Steffy is the Editor of LeapRate. She has previous experience as a copywriter and has been with the company since January 2020. Steffy has a British and American Studies degree from St. Kliment Ochridski University in Sofia.
