The FTSE 100 jumped almost 3 percent yesterday, building on last week’s rally, as Barclays delivered an upbeat assessment of its current trading. The index of blue-chip companies ended the day 110.31 points up at 3863.99 & showing a rise in six of the past seven trading days.
Barclays, the third-biggest UK bank, told investors that it had ‘enjoyed’ a strong start to the year and that it could raise billions of pounds through the sale of its iShares business. Among the other banks, Lloyds Banking Group rose more than 5 percent at one point but closed up just a fraction higher at 47.2p. Royal Bank of Scotland closed up almost 5 percent at 22.8p.The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 7217 on 3/16/09, as the stock market exploded higher in the morning but was weak in the last hour of trading. The Dow Jones Futures opened the day strong after Barclays ( BCS ) said they are having a great quarter. In currency-related data yesterday a number of USD data releases came in under expectations and in the Eurozone the rate of inflation y/y remained largely unchanged. The USD continued to lose ground against both the EUR and the Sterling amidst continued speculation that the worst of the banking crisis may be over and Fed Chairman Bernanke’s very positive market comments that the economy may begin to recover by end 2009. Today we have Building Permit and m/m PPI figures from the US. The PPI is considered a leading indicator of inflation. In Europe the
German ZEW Economic Sentiment figure will be released and is expected to fall further to -7.7.
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