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US data provides lift for markets

Markets recovered the previous two days worth of losses on Wednesday as positive US data provided enough impetus to overcome lingering concerns regarding the forthcoming EU summit. Investors took their cue after the US revealed higher than expected durable goods orders (long lasting manufactured goods) for the month of May. The news may yet turn out to be a rare fillip following signs recently of slippage in the world’s largest economy but it was enough to send stock markets noticeably higher worldwide.

In the UK investors also took heart from the news that according to the CBI retail sales surged in June (yes we know that June has not yet ended) driven by the Jubilee, which in itself sounds odd as the extra bank holiday gained last year for the Royal Wedding was blamed for reducing UK GDP and productivity.

The FTSE 100 closed 77 points higher at 5524, a gain of 1.4%, though despite the retail sales figures, shares in both Next and Marks & Spencer declined. As Brent Oil recovered by 2.5% to trade over $2 higher at $93.70, it was no surprise that oil miners, explorers and service companies were amongst the biggest gainers.

Elsewhere, major European indices were posting similar gains to those of the FTSE but the confidence was not replicated in bond markets, where the yields on UK and US government bonds held steady, but the yields on Spanish and Italian debt continued to rise worryingly high.

Shares in the Darlington based commercial vehicle hire specialist Northgate were amongst the day’s top performing shares, leaping 17% higher following positive results that showed higher margins, unexpectedly high vehicle utilization rates and an announcement that it along with dividend recommencement it had slashed its previous £500m plus debt pile by almost a third.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by John Dance .