Oil rally fades as British investors assess PMIs

The rally in oil prices sparked by OPEC’s surprise production cut lost steam yesterday, at the expense of commodity stocks. Meanwhile, investors were torn between recession fears and hopes that the Fed will ease its monetary policy after new data showed job vacancies in the US fell to their lowest level since May 2021. The FTSE 100 was down 0.5%.

The index was up 0.2% at the open, as investors awaited a series of service PMI readings. The March service PMI in the UK was slightly higher than the preliminary reading at 52.9, versus 52.8.

Eurozone March final services PMI stood at 55.0, versus a preliminary reading of 55.6. This is a 10-month high as the euro area economy ended Q1 with three straight months of expansion.

PMI release from the US is due at 2.45 pm.

Utilities are among the biggest gainers today, with United Utilities up 2.9%.

Meanwhile, RS Group fell more than 4%  after posting disappointing comparable sales in Q4.

This afternoon, investors will also focus on the ADP US jobs report at 1.15 pm.

 

Things to read today:

Waging war on trade will be costly (Financial Times)

UK Politics Is Getting Boring. About Time (Bloomberg)

Financial turmoil will be felt for years, says JP Morgan boss (Guardian)