Beige book published on 6th September 2017. But what exactly is the Beige Book? Beige Book Facts It is called The ‘Beige Book’ because its cover is the colour beige. It is a report published by the US Federal Reserve eight times a year. The report is published in advance …

US non-farm payroll data update The US economy created fewer jobs than expected in August adding 156,000 (180,000 expected) still a good number though. However, the previous months figures were later revised down. The US unemployment rate has held at or close to 4.4% since April this year. Has US …

FTSE 100 companies going ex dividend this week on: 07/09/17 Standard Life Aberdeen PLC (SLA) Shire PLC (SHP) Antofagasta PLC (ANTO) Admiral Group PLC (ADM) RSA Insurance Group PLC (RSA) Conva Tec Group PLC (CTEC) BHP Billiton PLC (BLT) Glencore PLC (GLEN) CRH PLC (CRH) Land Securities Group (PLC)  

DOW Jones back close to 22000 levels – but for how long this time? The Dow Jones Industrial Average on Friday 1st September moved to just under 22000, but only just. It closed at: 21987 but with intra day highs above 22000. The NASDAQ closed at a record high of: …

NYSE closed for Labour Day The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) will be closed on Monday 4th August for US Labour Day. After this holiday its back to the grindstone as there are no more breaks until the Christmas holidays!

Asian markets follow Wall Street up Asian markets continued to edge up a little on Friday (01/09/17) following Wall Street after positive Chinese manufacturing data. Chinese shares moved higher. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng remained flat. Japan’s NIKKEI climbed 0.2%.    

US Non-farm payroll data due (01/09/17) The outlook for US  inflation remains uncertain but US employment data continues to improve. Data released in the US later today will be closely watched by investors. I’ll come back to this post later.

Wall Street up on US tax reform agenda The DOW Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) picked its way through the trading day to close up at: 21952. The revision of GDP figures up and the renewal of election tax reform promises pushed the DOW ever closer to 2200o again. The S&P …

FTSE 100 closed up FTSE 100 closed up today (31/08/17) at 7430 a gain of 65 points. The best performer was: Mediclinic International PLC (MDC) at: 764.5p – up 2.9% There were seven companies in the top 10 risers that gained more than 2% At the other end of the …

FTSE 100 & FTSE 250 quarterly re-shuffle due In the latest quarterly re-shuffle of FTSE 100 companies – Provident Financial PLC and Royal Mail PLC have been relegated to the FTSE 250. Companies moving out of the FTSE 100 Provident Financial PLC (PFG) & Royal Mail PLC (RMG) have been …