Stocks endure another mixed session

Heading into the close, the FTSE 100 is down 3 points, while US indices continue to trade in a sideways pattern. 

For a second day, US markets are struggling to maintain momentum, with another attempt to push on beyond 2915 by the S&P 500 hitting a brick wall. Key measures of stock market breadth have also been flatlining or declining for several days now too, threatening to pull the rug out from underneath the equity rally, but the prospect of a long weekend seems to be providing the market with the energy to move higher in the short-term. But earnings season so far has produced little in the way of blockbuster surprises, and with trade talks still unresolved the market seems more vulnerable to downside shocks than any sudden leap higher. Sterling has remained resilient in the face of a weaker UK CPI
 print, refusing to move below $1.3040, with the apparent lack of a follow-through from stronger wages bolstering the more positive economic outlook. 

It was a rare miss from Bunzl, as the shares dropped 9% following a warning about weaker growth in its North American market. Having hit an all-time high just two months ago the shares look rather fully-valued, and investors will be hoping that today’s update is a one-off rather than the beginning of something more extensive.