The FTSE 100 was on the front foot heading into the weekend as markets prepared for Fed chair Kevin Warsh’s delivery at Jackson Hole later in the day.
London’s leading index was up 0.2% at the time of writing, hovering just above the 10,800 level.
The FTSE 100’s tepid move higher was in sharp contrast to a roaring rally for US stocks overnight on the back of Nvidia’s results.
“While it may not be replete with the technology names which have enjoyed a big comeback in recent days, the FTSE 100 was still on course for a positive end to the week,” said Dan Coatsworth, head of markets at AJ Bell.
“Strong numbers from Nvidia and other tech sector constituents like Crowdstrike and Salesforce have helped shore up market sentiment, supported by some hints at dampened tensions in the Middle East.
“The next test of investors’ mettle will come later when Federal Reserve chair Kevin Warsh addresses the Jackson Hole Symposium of central bankers and politicians. While immediate concerns about levels of government debt may have eased, with bond yields coming back down, the underlying issues haven’t gone away.”
The top of the FTSE 100 leaderboard was a real mixed bag on Friday, with SSE rising 2% to be the best performer, closely followed by Anglo American and Melrose.
The bottom was more defined as defence stocks led the way lower on reports the UK government could rethink their defence spending commitments.
“Shares in contractors BAE Systems, Babcock, Chemring and Qinetiq fell on uncertainties about whether the UK government would maintain its target of spending 3% of GDP on defence by 2030, let alone 3.5% of GDP by 2035,” Mould said.
“A report in the Financial Times implied Chancellor John Healey might reappraise this target and that any major decisions on defence spending would be delayed until a Treasury spending review next year.”