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FTSE 100 heading for weekly gains, Bitcoin reaches fresh record high of $41,530
Wall Street’s main indices are expected to attain new highs on Friday on hopes of economic stimulus. The overall economy of the United States was tormented by the onslaught of COVID-19 infections, and as per government report, major job market witnessed weakness for the first time in eight months in December.
Wall Street’s major benchmarks have risen to all-time highs and are supposed to maintain the level supported by nearly $900 bn in stimulus approved by the US government last week. On the same time, newly elected President Joe Biden is expected to roll out even a bigger fiscal package to boost infrastructure spending. In addition, the sentiment across the market remains positive due to vaccine rollout plan.
For the first time on Thursday, the S&P 500 index closed above 3,800 points. US technology index, Nasdaq along with Dow Jones is expected to gain for the fourth straight week. Shares of Moderna Inc gained nearly 1.6 per cent in premarket trading after its vaccine got the nod from the British medical regulator and secured an order of supplying 10 million jabs to the UK.
US based plane maker, Boeing Co (NYSE:BA) will have to pay $2.5 billion in the settlement with the US Department of Justice over the 737 MAX crashes that occurred in 2018 and 2019. US Technology company, Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) is in talks with Korean car company, Hyundai Motor Co for EV development.
UK Markets
According to the ONS, more than a million people fell prey to the pandemic in the past seven days. Meanwhile, Britain has approved the third vaccine from Moderna Inc to protect its masses.
London’s broader equity benchmark index, FTSE 100 remained nearly flat at 6,851.73 on 8 January 2021 at GMT 2:51 PM+1, stabilised by energy and consumer discretionary stocks. Investors are expecting gains along with swift economic recovery; however, Goldman Sachs has predicted a double-dip recession for UK’s economy during the first quarter of 2021. Moreover, London has asked its residents to stay alert as the hospitals are on the risk of being overwhelmed by the rising number of coronavirus cases.
UK’s biggest homebuilder, Barratt Developments (LON:BDEV) surged 4.3 per cent as it recorded a growth in six-month sales and is expected to resume dividend pay-outs next month.
Oil
Earlier this week, major oil producing nation, Saudi Arabia announced to reduce crude output by one million barrels per day for the next two months. This has pushed the oil prices higher on Friday. Major oil benchmarks are hovering around the highest level last seen in February 2020 and are on track to gain by 5 per cent by the end of this week. Brent traded 1.8 per cent higher at 55.33, while the US crude futures were up by 1.5 per cent to $51.59 a barrel.
Gold/ Currency/ Bitcoin
The gold futures were down by 1.1 per cent to $1,893.10/oz as the greenback struggled to sustain itself. Impacted by the poor employment data in the US, GBP/USD has recaptured the 1.36 mark as the United States dollar retreated.
The world's most popular digital currency, Bitcoin managed to reverse all its losses from the earlier session and recorded a fresh high of $41,530, surging more than 5 per cent on Friday.
