FTSE 100 hits nine-month high amid hopes about vaccines, stimulus and OPEC – Business Life agreement | Business

European stock markets are also mostly higher in early trade, with the FTSE 100 index outperforming the rest of the group:

Copper, often seen as a leader in economic demand, reached an eight-year high this morning.

This highlights that optimism about the vaccine and the push for a new US stimulus package raises confidence.

Here’s a Reuters take:

By providing support to the economy during the winter season, the additional stimulus should reduce the risk of a double-dip recession, “ANZ said in a note.

For three months, copper, often used as a barometer of global economic health, rose 1.3% to $ 7,772 per ton on the London Metal Exchange, the highest level since March 2013, and up 3.4% on a weekly basis.

Oil companies are helping push the FTSE 100 to a nine-month high this morning, after the OPEC group and Russia agreed to a production deal.

After much wrangling, oil producers only agreed to increase production by 500,000 barrels per day from January. That’s somewhat less than the two million barrels per day they had previously caught.

The decision means that oil production will increase modestly next month, when current supply cuts expire.

The news pushed Brent crude to $ 49.92 a barrel this morning, near the $ 50 level for the first time since early March.

Shares in energy companies are also rising, with the Royal Dutch Shell And the BP Both increased by 2%.

However, OPEC + also agreed that future production levels will be determined in monthly meetings, creating the possibility of tensions in 2021 … especially if crude oil prices continue to rise, luring suppliers to pump more.

Good morning, and welcome to our renewed coverage of the global economy, financial markets, the eurozone, and business.

After a difficult year, the UK’s FTSE 100 Index is coming to an end in full swing.

The leading stock index jumped to a new nine-month high this morning, as investors hope 2021 will bring better economic times.

The FTSE 100 gained 40 points, or 0.6%, to 6,530 – the highest level since the first week of March, when global markets were in a state of collapse as the Covid-19 pandemic spread around the world.

The rally comes as momentum builds behind a new US $ 908 billion coronavirus stimulus bill proposal in America. He told the bipartisan House of Representatives ‘problem-solving gathering’ of CNBC on Thursday.

Republican Rep. Tom Reid told CNBC last night that the tide on Capitol Hill is shifting in favor of bargaining to pass a new economic stimulus package.

The bottom line is, it is true within the domain of the mind. It’s not a perfect bill, but it’s a settlement bill that can bring people together. ”

Optimism that Covid-19 vaccines will soon be introduced is also driving up stocks in London (despite a report in the Wall Street Journal that Pfizer had some supply chain problems).

Fiona Cincotta From Gain Capital explains:

The news that Pfizer had cut its target to deploy a Covid vaccine by half, due to supply chain hurdles, weakened the sense of risk. The optimism about vaccines put markets in excellent shape during November, as investors price the end of the epidemic and revert to pre-pandemic growth, regardless of the painful few months expected before a vaccine becomes widely available and then news from Pfizer suggests that it may take Now is a longer time to reach the end of the pandemic tunnel, but with other vaccines emerging as well, this is more of a setback than news to reset the risks.

However, optimism surrounding the large economic stimulus package in the US helps lift US futures after the close. It now appears that a $ 908 billion rescue package in the world’s largest economy is on hand, providing support for the global risk sentiment picture, removing some of the disappointment with vaccines.

Wider markets could be muted until the release of the latest US unemployment report (1.30pm GMT), which shows the number of jobs created in America last month.

There is a wide range of estimates, from more than 700,000 to less than 200,000, as economists try to assess the impact of the worsening epidemic.

But on average, job creation is projected to slow, to less than 500,000 new jobs in November from 638,000 in October, as Covid-19 cases and deaths rise relentlessly in the United States.

schedule of work

• 9.30 am GMT: UK Construction PMI for November
• 1.30 pm GMT: US nonfarm payrolls report for November
• 3 pm GMT: US factory orders