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March 3, 2025 in
Market Commentary – Raymond James: Sledgehammer
With the current US administration seemingly taking a sledgehammer to established norms, Raymond James’ European Strategist, Jeremy Batstone-Carr,...
April 16, 2021
Stronger stock markets – reasons to be cheerful
The UK’s leading index of top 100 companies topped 7,000 for the first time since last February 2020, buoyed by the Dow Jones hitting a record high yesterday on the back of strong economic data.
In the US, investors were positive after the Dow Jones topped 34,000 for the first ever time, with the S&P 500 also reaching a new peak. Technology shares rebounded as Treasury yields fell back and a slew of positive updates, with retail sales surging 9.8% in March and new unemployment claims falling to their lowest level since March 2020, which clearly underlined the strength of the economic recovery.
Meanwhile, China reported record 18.3% GDP growth in the first quarter compared to the same period last year, which brought total output close to pre-pandemic levels.
Despite the UK’s recent run it still lags the performance of the US since the pandemic began, with many industry commentators suggesting the gap can be closed in future months.
