AM Analysis
China’s industrial production slowed to 8.6%
European stock futures are indicating a higher open, despite worse than expected China data. China’s industrial production slowed to 8.6% in the January to February period, adding to the poor data we have already seen at the beginning of the week. On Monday, markets took a negative reaction to the poor data but have failed to react this morning. Gains are likely to be capped as investors digest the state of the second largest economy.
Retail Sales and Unemployment Claims will help investors analyse the state of the US economy later today. Investors are likely to keep a sharp eye on the data to try gauge any sign of a recovery in the US economy after the recent frigid weather.
– Lee Mumford
PM Analysis
The FTSE 100 is trading in the red this afternoon
The FTSE 100 is trading in the red this afternoon after a negative trading day for the UK’s largest supermarkets. Morrison’s share price tumbled over 22p from the open after the supermarket announced a pretax loss of £176m in the 12 months to Feb 2, 2014. This loss is a significant change in direction from the £879m profit the company recorded only a year earlier. The bad news prompted a sector-wide sell off with both Sainsbury’s and Tesco dropping a significant amount off their share price.
Retail Sales from across the pond came in as expected at 0.3% and Core Retail Sales better than expected at 0.3%. Jobless claims fell to the lowest level since November after falling by 9000 to 315k.
– Sam Fox
Disclaimer
Spreadex provides an execution only service and the comments above do not constitute (or should not be construed as constituting) investment advice or recommendations, or a record of our trading prices, or an offer of, or solicitation for, a transaction in any financial instrument. Any person placing trades based on their interpretations of the above comments does so entirely at their own risk.