Easing recession worries boost UK shares

The FTSE 100 ended the session unchanged on Friday, after the better-than-expected US job reports, which fuelled worries that the Fed would turn more hawkish to stop the economy from overheating.

The US economy added 528,000 jobs in July, which is more than twice what was expected by economists. For the week, the FTSE 100 gained 0.2%.

This morning, the blue-chip index was up 0.4%, lifted by commodity and banking stocks. Strong Chinese exports numbers, which unexpectedly rose in July, also eased concerns about a recession. As a result of this and the strong US job numbers, crude prices rose.

Among stocks, Joules Group jumped 24% after it was announced that clothing retail chain Next is in talks to acquire a minority stake in the company for about £15 million.

 

Things to read today:

US Senate passes Joe Biden’s flagship economic package (Financial Times)

UK Economy Probably Entered Its Worst Slump Since Lockdown (Bloomberg)