Equity markets in Europe have gotten off to a good start this morning after a volatile session yesterday. The FTSE 100 was the worst performer of the major European markets yesterday, but the rally in natural resource stocks today has helped the London equity benchmark bounce back.
Miners like BHP Billiton (LON:BLT), Antofagasta (LON:ANTO), Glencore (LON:GLEN), Anglo American (LON:AAL), and Glencore (LON:GLEN) have all been boosted by the jump in the price of copper – which is up over 1%.
The DAX is in positive territory and the car markets like BMW (DE:BMWG), Volkswagen (DE:VOWG_p) and Daimler (DE:DAIGn) are mixed as the investigation by the European antitrust regulators into their business practices is looming over the companies.
Informa (LON:INF) shares are up over 7% on the session after the company revealed a 41.3% rise in first-half revenue. The exhibitions operation of the business was the main driver behind the jump in sales, as the division announced a 77.7% increase in revenue. The academic publishing side of the business only managed an 11.3% rise in revenue. The company will have to give more resources to the exhibitions side of the business as it is performing well, but only accounts for 37.4% of total revenue.
The EUR/USD is edging higher after positive business confidence data from Germany assisted the currency pair. The German Ifo business climate for July came in at 116, and traders were anticipating a reading of 114.9, and the June reading was 115.1. The single currency has been in a strong upward trend against the US dollar since January, and the trend looks like it is set to continue.
The GBP/USD is holding steady above the $1.30 mark. Andy Haldane of the Bank of England will be speaking in London at 6pm. In recent weeks Mr Haldane has called for higher interest rates from the UK central bank, and dealers will be keeping an ear out for potentially hawkish comments later on.
We are anticipating the Dow Jones to open 40 points higher at 21,553, and we are calling the S&P 500 up 2 points at 2472.
At 3pm, the US will announce the Conference Board consumer confidence survey for July, and economists are expecting a reading of 116.6, down from 118.9 in June.
3M (NYSE:MMM) and Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) will announce their second-quarter figures today.
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