Markets apprehensive on Tech Tuesday

Joshua Mahony MSTA Scope Markets

Tech stocks are the laggards as we await earnings from the likes of Apple, Amazon, and Alphabet. Meanwhile, the pound is on the rise as Covid cases continue to fall.

Nasdaq lags ahead of Tech earnings
FOMC meeting gets underway
GBP on the rise as Covid cases continue to fall

US tech stocks have led the declines this afternoon, with investors clearly showing a degree of hesitancy ahead of key earnings from the likes of Apple, Microsoft, and Alphabet. Tech names have been a major outperformer of late, with the Nasdaq reaching record highs as traders head away from value names as Delta Covid cases rise. The Federal Reserve come into play as their two-day monetary policy meeting gets underway. With inflation concerns raising the risk of a hastier withdrawal of monetary accommodation, we are likely to see a cautious approach given the potential for tapering talk tomorrow.

In the UK, we have continued to see case numbers decline, with a week-on-week drop of 21.5% raising confidence in the economic recovery. However, Boris Johnson’s reminder to not jump to “premature conclusions” highlight the fears of a surge as last week’s reopening efforts come into play. However, market sentiment appears to be improving for the pound, with the currency rising into a 12-day high against the dollar and euro. That optimism has also led to an impressive outperformance for the domestic UK-focused bus companies, with many hoping that this decline in Covid cases will ensure restrictions can remain at bay as businesses get back to normal.

Author

Joshua Mahony MSTA

Scope Markets

Joshua Mahony is Chief Markets Analyst at Scope Markets. Joshua has a particular focus on macro-economics and technical analysis, built up over his 11 years of experience as a market analyst across three brokers.

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