Morning Call by Greg Secker

Britain’s top share index gained 1.4 percent on Wednesday to close off with its highest closing level in nearly four months, led by banks and commodity stocks and buoyed by slower job losses in the United States. The FTSE 100 closed 59 points higher at 4,396 after trading as high as 4,437 earlier in the session. The UK benchmark was down 0.9 percent for the year but has rallied 27 percent since hitting a six-year low on March 9. [05:04:59] Manuela Robson: Dow for the morning briefing……From the US, the Dow Jones industrial average jumped 100 points, or 1.2 percent, to 8,512.28 in heavy trading volume, closing above the 8,500 mark for the first time since 9 January, leaving the Dow down only 3 percent for 2009. The S&P 500 index rose 15.73, or 1.7 percent, to 919.53, while the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index had a more modest gain, rising 4.98, or 0.3 percent, to 1,759.10.
Bank stocks pulled the market higher yesterday as media reports suggested that balance sheets at major lenders might not be as bad as some had feared and investors felt more confident putting their money into banks on the eve of the government ‘bank stress test’, aimed at determining which banks need to raise more capital.
The news on banks and a surprise drop in a report on unemployment provided further confidence to a market that has rallied higher in the past two months amid signs that the economy is stabilizing. It was a big Forex news day yesterday with largely positive economic figures being released in Australia, the US and the UK. In the UK we had the Services PMI Index jumping to 48.7 and the Nationwide Consumer Confidence Index reaching the all-important 50 level. Cable broke and closed above the key 1.5000 level.