The month draws to a close with continued upbeat reporting of economic growth and stock market gains. Such sentiment is at odds with the rate of both infections and deaths in India highlighting the global nature of the pandemic and the regional differences in progress.
By contrast Joe Biden declares the US is ready for take-off as the Fed’ report increased economic activity and employment albeit with a more cautionary note than the president. This follows President Biden’s first 100 days in office during which he has pushed through $1.9tn in stimulus, announced $2.4tn spending on infrastructure and on Wednesday promoted a further $1.8tn spend to expand social care for families and children. The proposal somewhat inevitably extends to higher taxes for corporations, the wealthy and higher earners without the middle classes sharing the tax burden. Biden also champions a new world order where tax is collected from big tech companies that currently shift profits to tax havens where little or no tax is paid. While the US stock market has gained around 25% in his first 100 days in office this is less than for any other president in the last 4 decades. The Democratic vision of utopia might just be at odds with that of Wall Street.
In the UK growth forecasts have risen again with some now above 6.5% for the year – growth was last above 6.5% in 1941. The associated costs of Brexit seem to have been forgotten as the good news flow gains pace. There is inevitable caution in respect of travel reopening as planned given broader concerns about India and the relatively modest vaccination progress across Europe – Germany at 23% of the population vaccinated is closest to the UK’s 50% – however this has had little effect on markets where growth continues to reflect the increasing demand for commodities, goods and services as manufacturing and consumer consumption expand.
The FTSE100 closed just over a year ago at 4,993.90 on 23rd March last year and opened almost 40% higher this morning at 6,961.48 – growth year to date is shown below. Have a good Bank Holiday weekend.
Regards
Kenny
| Index | Growth Year to Date | Closing Index value | Growth Year to Date | Closing Index value 29/04/21 |
| To end March 2021 | To end April 2021 | |||
| FTSE100 | 3.91% | 6,713.60 | 7.75% | 6,961.48 |
| FTSE All-share | 4.29% | 3,831.05 | 8.25% | 3,977.04 |
| S&P500 | 5.53% | 3,972.89 | 11.73% | 4,206.14 |
The FTSE (Financial Times Stock Exchange) 100 is an index composed of the 100 largest companies listed on the LSE (London Stock Exchange) by market capitalisation or value, often referred to as Blue Chip companies. The FTSE 250 is the next 250 largest companies often referred to as Mid Cap and the FTSE SmallCap is the companies smaller than those. The FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 together make up the FTSE 350 and when the FTSE SmallCap is added you get the FTSE All-Share.
The S&P (Standard & Poor’s) 500 is largest 500 companies listed on the NYSE (New York Stock Exchange). Other US indices include the S&P MidCap 400, S&P SmallCap 600 which together with the S&P 500 combine as the S&P Composite 1500.