Weekly Round Up
Volatility has again played a part this week, as the FTSE 100 dipped below the psychological 7000 points level on Wednesday, for the first time in nearly a month. At the time of writing the UK’s main index trades slightly higher at just short of 7100, up about 1% on the previous week.
Inflation concerns continue to grow with energy prices having again hit the headlines. UK and European natural gas prices shot higher earlier in the week to over 10 times their level from the beginning of the year. Prices abruptly reversed when Russian president Vladimir Putin hinted that Russia’s state-backed monopoly, Gazprom, may increase supplies to help Europe avoid a full-blown crisis.
US non-farm payroll numbers have been reported this afternoon. Job numbers increased 194,000, down from last month’s 366,000 and much lower than the average forecast of 500,000.
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