The FTSE 100 edged higher in early trade on Monday as investors prepared for a busy couple of weeks of central bank action.
The FTSE 100 was 0.1% higher at 7,568 at the time of writing.
All eyes will be on the Federal Reserve and their next move on rates scheduled for Wednesday. The Bank of England will issue their decision next week.
“The FTSE 100 ticked higher on Monday as central banks once again find themselves in the spotlight,” said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.
“The Fed is widely expected to keep its finger on the pause button when it announces its decision on rates on Wednesday. The US is showing some signs of slipping into a recession and inflation has eased considerably, even if it still stands a long way above the Fed’s 2% target.
“A last-minute shift in the plan cannot be ruled out given the Fed is taking a data-driven approach and inflation numbers from the US are out tomorrow. A higher-than-expected number could set the cat among the pigeons.”
The prospect of the Fed holding off another rate hike was causing weakness in the dollar and helping support GBP/USD.
FTSE 100 movers
With little in the way of corporate news on Monday, the FTSE 100’s top movers were largely continuing trends from last week.
Ocado added to its recent rebound after being raised to ‘neutral’ by Exane BNP. Ocado shares were over 6% higher at the time of writing and were the FTSE 100’s top riser.
Goldman Sachs has cut their year-end oil price targets, while Brent and WTI started the week on the back foot. BP and Shell were down around 1%.
Goldman Sachs also cut Segro to ‘neutral’ from ‘buy’ and lowered their price target to 800p. Segro shares were down 2% and were the FTSE 100’s top faller.