The FTSE 100 rallied on Friday and closed in on pre-pandemic levels after a robust US jobs number demonstrated strength in the worlds largest economy, at a time inflation rates have began to decline.
The FTSE 100 was trading at 7,689, up 0.71% at the time of writing. A close above 7,672 would be the highest closing level since before the start of the pandemic in 2020.
US futures were surging with the S&P 500 up 1% and NASDAQ up 1.05%.
London-listed equities tracked a US equities higher as investors digested a US jobs report that showed the US unemployment rate falling alongside lower average wage growth, while the headline Non-Farm Payrolls beat expectations.
The US economy added 223,000 jobs in December, beating analyst estimates of 203,000 jobs added.
The Federal Reserve is now contending with falling inflation in a healthy economy, apparently able to withstand high prices and sharply higher interest rates. US CPI data due next week will be closely watched for confirmation of a trend to the downside in inflation figures and hints of what the Fed will do next.
Shell & BP
The strong jobs number helped build on a FTSE 100 rally on Friday that started with strength in oil majors BP & Shell. Shell released an insight into their Q4 results on Friday highlighting strong performance in their gas divisions.
Shell was 1.5% higher and BP was gaining 1.6% at the time of writing.
UK Retail spending
UK food retailers Sainsbury’s, Ocado and Tesco caught the interest of investors on Friday following Kantar data for the Christmas trading period earlier in week continued to provide support for the sector. Attractive results from Next and Greggs also provided evidence of a resilient UK consumer during December.
Tesco is set to report Christmas trading 13th January and Sainbury’s will release their figures 11th January.