11th Nov 2013 13:32
LONDON (Alliance News) - The US futures market is indicating that Veterans Day in the US is likely to be even quieter than Remembrance Day has been so far in the UK. Outside of a handful of big individual stock movers, partial global market closures and the accompanying empty data calendar has produced a flat day for equities.
Heading in to the New York opening bell the pre-markets indicate that the DJIA, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite all will open close to flat.
"Today, with Veterans' day in the US, Armistice Day in Europe and disaster in the Philippines over the weekend, will be quiet", comments Societe Generale Currency Strategist Kit Juckes.
US markets pushed higher on Friday to close near record highs after a surprise strong reading of the October non-farm payroll report. The report, which covered the 16-day US federal government shutdown, showed the economy added 204,000 jobs over the month, beating expectations and reigniting the debate over when the Federal Reserve may start to taper its asset purchase program.
Back in the UK market, the movers table continues to be dominated by the surprise deal announced over the weekend that BT has won the exclusive rights to televise all the Champions League and Europa League football matches in the UK for three years from the 2015/16 season.
Far from rushing into BT, investors have been cautious over the huge price paid for the rights, and BT shares are up just 0.7%. BSkyB and ITV, which will be losing the rights, are down 9.4% and 1.8% respectively. "Sky's hold over content is changing, and the deal improves BT's historically poor positioning in TV, says JPMorgan Cazenove analyst Carl Murdock-Smith.
The forex markets remain fairly quiet ahead of bigger risk events later in the week. The pound is slightly lower against the dollar, slipping just below USD1.60, and the euro is slightly higher against the green back, trading just below USD1.34. The combined effect is a rebound in the cross between the euro and the pound. The euro had given up more than 3% against sterling last week in the wake of the ECB rate cut. The pair now is now quoted at GBP0.8380, up about 0.5% since the morning.
The UK will be in focus as the week goes on, with increased market volatility sure to follow. UK inflation numbers are due Tuesday, with unemployment to follow in Wednesday. Any surprise rise in inflation or tick down in unemployment will lead to increased speculation of central bank action in the UK. Investors may get answers to some of those questions when BOE Governor Mark Carney delivers the central bank's quarterly inflation report later in the day on Wednesday.
Major European equity markets are holding on to gains from the morning. The CAC40 is up 0.5% and the DAX is up 0.3%.
In London, ahead of the New York opening bell, stocks are edging slowly higher. The FTSE 100 is up 0.3% at 6,727.18, the FTSE 250 is up 0.4% at 15,411.75, and the AIM All-Share is up 0.3% at 812.72.
In common with Europe this morning, there are no major data releases to come from the US Monday.
By Jon Darby; [email protected]; @jondarby100
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