FTSE struggles to hold its ground

Heading into the close, the FTSE 100 is 40 points lower, as markets struggle following poor news from Goldman Sachs.

• FTSE stumbles as earnings turn sour
• Markets enter weaker half of January
• Canada gets higher rates, but NAFTA a major cloud

While US markets have managed to claw back some ground this afternoon, the FTSE 100 remains under pressure. Sentiment, already weak on a day of bad news for the likes of Burberry, has not been helped by a disappointing set of numbers from Goldman Sachs. 2017 was a year of low volatility, and thus it was not exactly surprising to see this lack of activity hit the key bond trading business. While the bank had hinted about this, the magnitude of the drop was the surprise. Markets are still within touching distance of record highs, but now we’re into the second half of January it is traditional to see equity markets weaken for a time. Based on historical performance over the past 30 years, the
 FTSE, Dax and S&P 500 should all continue to weaken, before staging a fresh run higher. Earnings season provides an ideal time to book some gains, with Goldman Sachs, a stock that had gained over 60% since the election, fall victim to a little weakness.

Central banks are going hiking a lot these days, and the Bank of Canada is no exception. The bank raised rates to 1.25%, but if ever there was a definition of a ‘dovish hike’, this was it. As the UK has Brexit, so Canada has NAFTA to worry about, and thus the bank is only really giving itself room to cut if things go awry with Mr Trump.