Adrian HollidayIs the worst over? It’s a rhetorical question, of course, and the answer is probably not. However stocks on both sides of the Atlantic rose today. Mid-afternoon the FTSE 100 was +1.11% ahead at 7,172 while the German Dax was +1.41% up and the French CAC 40 up +1.21%. But jitters are not far away; there maybe deeper reverberations to come midweek.
Rebecca O’Keeffe, head of investment at Interactive Investor told the FT the key event is US consumer price data “with investors anxious to determine whether the inflation fears that have helped to drive recent market moves have been overdone or if these concerns are justified”.
However it’s thought inflation, measured by the US consumer price index on Wednesday, will climb for a fifth consecutive month. Higher inflation = higher interest rates which could pull the trigger for another round of market volatility.
Earlier the dollar spot index was down -0.14% to 90.31 with the euro up +0.20% to 1.2256. The pound was -0.11% lower against the greenback at 1.3804.
Elsewhere WTI crude was +1.18% higher at 59.90 while Brent crude was +0.84% up at 63.32. In a fresh investor note Goldman Sachs was cautious though on another oil rally – oil prices saw their biggest fall for two years last week – while there have been noises from the Russians on how oil metrics get measured in future (think more emphasis on revenues than output).
Evraz and NMC Health were the biggest FTSE 100 climbers tonight, up +5.7% and +4.4%.
- UK FTSE 100 7,177 +1.19%
- DAX 12,284.37 +1.46%
- CAC 40 5,141.92 +1.23%
- Euro Stoxx 600 373.15 +1.23%
- Dow 24,358.28 +0.69%
- S&P 500 2,630.10 +0.38%
- Nasdaq 6,890.66 +0.24%
- Nikkei 225 21,382.62 -2.32%
- Gold 1,325.50 +0.74%
- Oil WTI 59.95 +1.27%
Unilever warns on online hate and marketing spend
Some worry lines for Facebook and Google: the marketing boss of personal care and household products Unilever is to make it clear he will not tolerate online platforms that fail to safeguard children or promote hate.
“We cannot continue to prop up a digital supply chain – one that delivers over a quarter of our advertising to our consumers – which at times is little better than a swamp in terms of its transparency,” marketing boss Keith Weed will tell the Interactive Advertising Bureau conference meeting in Palm Desert, California later.
Key rival Procter & Gamble has had similar concerns and both companies are trimming budgets, where necessary, online. It’s thought the moves have not hurt sales growth. The Sure to Lynx to Dove seller spent more than €7bn last on marketing last year. Unilever recently saw a +4% hike in underlying sales for the last quarter, better than expected.
Unilever's marketing spend is massive and influential: ShutterstockCarillion job hope rises
Earlier there was a glimmer or two of more light for Carillion workers: around 4,400 staff will get to keep their jobs the Insolvency Service has confirmed. So far almost 6,700 roles have been saved from a 19,000 workforce in total.
“Most employees who have transferred so far have done so on existing or similar terms and I will continue to facilitate this wherever possible as we work to find new providers for Carillion’s other contracts,” said a spokesperson.
However that still leaves another 11,800 roles to be accounted for.
Breaking news: Ahead of news that President Jacob Zuma may step down the rand is up – the best performer of G10 currencies.