Spreadex Market Update

Markets look limper after weak US retail sales; DuPont sees off activist investor challenge




Investors were initially buoyed by the rate-hike delaying power of this retail miss, leading the US markets to slender gains, until disappointment set in and lead to, well, slender losses. The ol’ ‘good news as bad news, bad news as good news’ conundrum the US markets are operating under shows no signs of letting up any time soon and is contributing to the overall erratic nature of the markets, making it hard for investors to trade effectively.

Nowhere is the markets’ current erraticism better captured than in the Eurozone. A strengthened euro, the product of the same strong data that had previously boosted the region’s indices, has caused the DAX to fall from significant gains to notable losses, with the rest of the region’s indices seeing a similar, if slightly less dramatic, contraction. Despite the rare site of a relatively quiet Greece this afternoon the region has struggled to hold on its gains, suggesting that investors currently lack the impetus to remain bullish on the Eurozone for significant periods of time.

The FTSE’s growth failed to gain momentum as the day went on, with the UK’s strong jobs data intermingling with a dovish, and GDP cutting, Bank of England inflation report to create a good, but not great, day for the UK index. The added bonus of the European Commission pointing out the UK’s flaws, recommending that it sorts out its deficit, builds more houses and closes its skills gap, failed to help matters as the FTSE failed to recapture the majority of Tuesday’s losses.

DuPont appears to have won its battle to keep out activist investor Neslon Peltz and his Trian Fund Management, the company’s 5th biggest shareholder. However, the chemical giant looks like it is paying for it as DuPont’s share price plunged over 6.5% after the bell, with investors seemingly displeased by both the disruption this issue has caused and the potential stagnation the result signals.



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