Equities respond positively to Fed hawks

Markets responded positively to the release of the Federal Open Market Committee minutes, which showed a December rate rise is increasingly likely.

Equities respond positively to Fed hawks

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There is a question of whether the UK is more aligned with Europe or the US, says Daniel Adams, an investment analyst at Psigma Investment management: “Something that has become apparent in the past few weeks is that Europe and the US are on increasingly diverging paths,” he said.

“The recent US jobs data has firmly brought December’s FOMC meeting into focus, with the futures market now pricing in a 66% chance that the Fed opts for its first interest rate hike in nine and half years. At the same time over the Atlantic, Super Mario (Draghi) continues to pledge further support to the region. Weaker than expected GDP data released late last week confirmed that the situation remains finely balanced and suggests that further quantitative easing is on the cards, possibly as early as next month.”