City collectively gets out the right side of bed

Markets jump higher as the City appears to have collectively gotten out the right side of bed.

- Too little too late to reverse poor quarterly performance

- Sainsbury’s figures enable food retailer to lead equities higher

- Asian market optimism transfers to Europe

This quarter looks set to be the worst the FTSE has had since 2011 and this morning’s last minute window dressing will fail to hide what has been three months dominated by panic, fear and uncertainty leading to global equity markets having over $10 Trillion wiped off shares. The day will be packed full of economic data from around Europe and the US. However, many of these figures will have been correlated before some of the larger corporate disasters have been factored in. Part of the reason the City appears to have gotten out of bed on the right side has been Sainsbury’s announcement that it is on track to outperform year-end expectations. Many felt that last week’s news that it was the only one of the big four to hold onto its market share was as good as it would get, but today might give investors the first glimmer of light at the end of a troubling couple of years. Yesterday saw multiple references to dead cats from the world of finance in social media but Asia’s ability to continue what Europe started yesterday will have many questioning whether the ‘buy on dip’ investors have finally been woken from their slumber.

It will be another full day of economic releases with GDP figures from the UK, inflation and unemployment in the Eurozone, along with US ADP figures and Oil inventories. Normally this would be more than able to de-rail any market moves, but the markets do appear to have a bounce in their step. This is either through exhaustion from all the negativity, or the sunny skies from this Indian summer. Once again US traders will also have to contend with a couple of FOMC voting members making public appearances. With Fed Chair Janet Yellen being one of them – and her preferred timeline for change being stated quite clearly last week – these might not have the same disruptive influence they normally do.