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Share prices were narrowly mixed in London early Tuesday, with major market movements on hold ahead of scheduled commentary on US monetary policy by the head of the US Federal Reserve.
The FTSE 100 index opened up 6.13 points, 0.1%, at 7,935.92. The FTSE 250 was up 26.63 points, 0.1%, at 20,090.74. The AIM All-Share was down 1.10 points, 0.1%, at 864.21.
The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.1% at 794.18 and the Cboe UK 250 rose 0.2% to 17,614.77, but the Cboe Small Companies fell 0.1% at 14,152.97.
The key focus ahead will be US Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s testimony before Congress, which begins on Tuesday with the House and continues on Wednesday with the Senate.
‘Since the latest Federal Open Market Committee meeting, we saw a blowout non-farm payrolls number, an uptick in inflation figures, lower-than-expected decline in the S&P500 earnings, and overall encouraging economic activity data,’ noted Swissquote Bank’s Ipek Ozkardeskaya.
Powell’s comments come two weeks before the US central bank’s next policy decision. The next FOMC meeting is on March 21 and 22.
‘After the Fed slowed the pace of tightening at the 31 Jan-1 Feb to 25bps and hinted that the end of the tightening cycle might have been approaching, the US dataflow has significantly strengthened, with a string of upside surprises in terms of both economic activity and prices,’ said Daiwa Capital Markets.
‘And so, we would expect a relatively hawkish tone from Powell‘