FTSE 100 ekes out gains, Burberry higher, GBP weak after data dump By Investing.com

Key Points

• FTSE 100 finishes higher amid mixed global share performance
• Burberry Group PLC (LON:BRBY) rallies after strong start to the year
• GBP weak after raft of economic data
• UK exports to EU tumble in first month post-Brexit
• UK and US yields surge higher

By Samuel Indyk

Investing.com – The FTSE 100 eked out gains in the final session of the week amid mixed global share performance as yields in the UK and US surged higher. The United Kingdom 10-Year yield jumped over 8bps and is back above 0.8% while the United States 10-Year jumped above 1.6%, exceeding its high on March 5th.

Alarm bells started ringing again amid the jump in yields and the tech-heavy NASDAQ underperformed in the US as a result.

In the UK, Burberry was the best performing company in the FTSE 100 after lifting their forecast following robust sales since December.

“Since December, we have continued to see a strong rebound and now expect revenue and adjusted operating profit to be ahead of consensus expectations,” the company said in a statement.

UK Data Dump

A slew of data was released from the UK’s Office for National Statistics (ONS) on Friday morning with the highlight being the monthly GDP figures. Output fell 2.9% month-over-month in January meaning total output is now 9% lower than it was before the pandemic. However, there is light at the end of the tunnel with cautious optimism abound as the UK continues to vaccinate its population at the fastest rate in Europe.

Of a concern to some will be the latest UK trade figures. In January, exports to the EU fell over 40% and imports from the bloc were down 28.8% in the first month after the transition period ended and the UK formally left the EU.

The ONS cautioned not to read too much into the figures as large stockpiling was done in November and December when it was unclear what the new trading relationship would be like and a certain unwinding of that was evident in January. Nevertheless, Brexit has clearly caused an impact but how deep an issue will not be known until some of the temporary factors dissipate.

After briefly breaking above 1.4000, GBP/USD retreated post the data and amid strong demand for the USD as yields in the US continued to push higher.

Commodities

WTI and Brent crude futures fell on Friday but are set to end the week relatively unchanged, having failed to hold onto gains in the wake of the attack on Saudi oil facilities. The Baker Hughes US rig count, released at 18:00GMT, will be watched for signs that US oil production is picking up. Last week, the count hit 310, its highest since May last year.

Looking ahead

There are some key events to come next week, notably central bank meetings from the Federal Reserve, Bank of England, and Bank of Japan.