FTSE recaptures 7000

Despite some weakness late in the day Monday, the FTSE 100 has moved higher again this morning and in doing so moved back above the big psychological level of 7000. The pound has experienced a quiet start to the week in the absence of any fundamental developments and remains little changed against many of its major peers.

Carney to face the House of Lords

Bank of England Governor Mark Carney will testify before the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee later this afternoon on the economic consequences of the Brexit vote, in an event that could trigger some volatility in the pound. Recent economic indicators have suggested that the economy has shrugged off the initial shock of the vote in June, and this viewpoint was supported by Mr. Carney in a speech during which he claimed the central bank’s swift and decisive action had played an important role in dampening the shock. With third-quarter GDP data out on Thursday expected to show growth of 0.3% for the three months post-Brexit vote, doom-mongers warnings of an imminent recession appear misplaced. However news from the continent that the EU-Canada trade pact was thrown into chaos last night after the Wallonia region in Belgium voted against a deal that has been in the offing for seven years should serve as a timely reminder that there remains many pitfalls ahead in the UK’s separation from the EU.

Miners lead the rally

Mining stocks are the best performing on the UK benchmark today, with Anglo American leading the pack and rising by almost 4% after the latest production report that saw most of its output targets left unchanged being warmly received by investors. Antofagasta, Rio Tinto and Glencore have all followed suit in showing sizeable gains since the open. GKN has lagged the leaders today with the engineering group off by approximately 2.8% at the time of writing. Whitbread, the owner of Costa coffee, is also lower on the day and off by 2.6% at present.