Morning Call by Traders University

The FTSE 100 closed up 24 points yesterday at 3,925. The third reading of our fourth-quarter GDP is due out at 0930 this morning, and economists expect little or no change to the earlier estimate of a 1.5 percent contraction. It looks as if the key number of 4,000 provided resistance on Tuesday. The US personal consumption expenditure data is also due out at 1230 GMT which would be of interest to investors for further gauge of the state of the world’s largest economy. US stocks opened up on Thursday as reports on economic growth and Jobless claims came in roughly as forecast, while shares of Best Buy (BBY.N) jumped about 12 percent after its results beat expectations. The Dow Jones industrial average climbed 89 points, or 1.15 Percent to 7,839. In Forex related news today UK Current Account figure due at 9.30 which is expected to improve significantly and would therefore be £ positive. In the US we have Core PCE Price Index m/m and Personal Spending m/m figures due. Both figures are expected to weaken. In Forex news yesterday saw the pound against the USD drop to 1.4538 after UK retails figures showed a 1.9% drop in consumption, in February bring to end 3 months of rises. Annualised gains of 2.5% are the lowest in 13 years.