Today’s Major Headlines

  • FTSE 100 continue to grind higher while other equity markets struggle
  • US equities trade softer following earnings from Tesla and Netflix
  • AUD sees decent upside following solid jobs report

FTSE 100 Continues to Outperform

The FTSE 100 index continued to outperform other equity markets on Thursday, rising 0.3% to 7,240.4 points. The index is now up 1.6% for the week.

The gains in the FTSE 100 were led by energy stocks, which were boosted by rising oil prices. BP and Shell were the top performers, rising 2.0% and 1.9%, respectively.

Other sectors that performed well included mining and consumer discretionary.

The gains in the FTSE 100 were in contrast to the performance of other equity markets. The S&P 500 index in the US was down 0.4%, while the DAX index in Germany was down 0.5%.

The weakness in the US and German markets was likely due to disappointing earnings from Tesla and Netflix. Tesla’s shares fell 7.6% after the electric car maker reported weaker-than-expected second-quarter earnings. Netflix’s shares fell 5.7% after the streaming service reported a sharp decline in subscribers.

US Equities Trade Softer

US equities traded softer on Thursday, with the S&P 500 index down 0.4% to0 3,890.1 points. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.3% to 31,331.4 points, and the Nasdaq Composite was down 0.7% to 11,517.5 points.

Other stocks that weighed on the market included Amazon, which fell 2.7%, and Meta Platforms which fell 2.5%.

The weakness in US equities came despite positive economic data. The US economy grew at an annual rate of 1.7% in the second quarter, beating expectations of 1.5%.

AUD Sees Decent Upside

The Australian dollar (AUD) saw a decent push higher on Thursday, rising 0.7% to 0.6820 against the US dollar (USD). The AUD was boosted by a solid jobs report from Australia, which showed that the unemployment rate fell to 3.5% in June, the lowest level since 1974.

The strong jobs report increased expectations that the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) will continute to raise interest rates in an effort to combat inflation. The RBA is expected to raise interest rates by 50 basis points in its next meeting scheduled in August.

Key Takeaways

  • The FTSE 100 continued to outperform other equity markets on Thursday, rising 0.3% to 7,240.4 points.
  • The gains in the FTSE 100 were led by energy stocks, which were boosted by rising oil prices.
  • US equities traded softer on Thursday, with the S&P 500 index down 0.4% to 3,890.1 points.
  • The weakness in US equities was led by disappointing earnings from Tesla and Netflix.
  • AUD saw a decent push higher on Thursday, rising 0.7% to 0.6820 against USD.
  • AUD was boosted by a solid jobs report from Australia, which showed that the unemployment rate fell to 3.5% in June, the lowest since 1974.

Looking Ahead

The focus for markets on Friday will be the US data due with another weekly Jobless Claims print, as well as the Philly Fed Business Outlook survey.

Just like last week’s US data, we need to approach the print with some caution with the USD right now. After the amount of downside, we’ve seen in a very short space of time, the risk-to-reward is not attractivce to try and chase the USD lower on a miss in the data today.

Risk-to-reward is more attractive for a possible beat in the data, and to use that to squeeze out some short-term USD upside with the Pound still weak.

This material is for general information purposes only and is not intended as (and should not be considered to be) financial, investment or other advice on which reliance should be placed. INFINOX is not authorised to provide investment advice. No opinion given in the material constitutes a recommendation by INFINOX or the author that any particular investment, security, transaction or investment strategy is suitable for any specific person.

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