Spreadex Market Update

Mixed EU forecasts and weak UK construction data dampens markets




Even a better than expected first quarter performance from HSBC couldn’t spark much excitement despite a year-on-year rise in Q1 profits from £6.8 billion to £7.1 billion, a vast improvement on the £5.8 billion forecast. Comments complaining about the difficulties of having a ‘progressive’ dividend policy, and a lack of news on its relocation tempered the buzz around HSBC, with the bank falling by around 2% as the day went on.

The Eurozone was its usual volatile self this morning, with the DAX especially trading all over the place. News that the European Commission has raised the region’s 2015 growth forecasts to 1.5% from 1.3% had initially boosted the Eurozone indices, but some pretty worrying news for Greece, whose own growth forecasts was slashed to 0.5% from 2.5% for the year, soon put a dampener on any kind of real rally. The EC stated it had no choice but to implement such a severe downgrade due to the stagnation Greece has seen since the snap election was announced, also warning that Greece’s dire tax collection problem hasn’t improved as the country’s fiscal noose grows tighter.

The US futures are looking limp this morning ahead of the latest trade balance and ISM non-manufacturing PMI data this afternoon; more significant for the US markets will be the pre-bell releases from Kellogg’s and Walt Disney. The latter especially perhaps deserves the same kind of attention as Apple, after Monday saw the studio powerhouse once again near the all-time highs it had only reached last week following a blockbuster US open for the latest Avengers film. Disney’s upcoming film slate, culminating with the Christmas release of the latest Star Wars film, is beyond enviable and follows an already stellar 2014, all of which that should be reflected in the company’s first quarter results.



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