The latest from London: Nasdaq’s resilient finish boosts UK markets

As US Treasuries yields and fears about the Fed’s hawkish monetary policy rise, UK markets head down. Yesterday, the FTSE 100 fell 0.5%, while the FTSE 250 dropped 1.5%, hampered by cyclical stocks, while banks, telecom and consumer staples performed well.

However, investors sentiment is boosted today by the rather good finish to Wall Street trading yesterday, especially the Nasdaq 100, which ended in the green, after being heckled in the past few days. The FTSE was up 0.6% this morning.

Electrocomponents gained 1.6% after releasing a trading update for its third quarter ended Dec. 31^st, with a 23% growth in comparable sales from the year-ago quarter. It now expects full year profit to be slightly ahead of consensus estimate.

Meanwhile, Britain's cyber security firm Darktrace raised its full-year revenue and margin guidance thanks to a close to 40% jump in customers.

Today the highlight is Jerome Powell's speech before US lawmakers at his confirmation hearing.

 

Things to read today:

The Bank of England Should Let Inflation Rip for a Bit (Bloomberg)

Fed will act to prevent entrenched inflation, Jay Powell to tell Senate (Financial Times)

Four Fed Hikes May Be Just The Start as Traders Boost Rate Bets (Bloomberg)