Yahoo Finance Wall Street struggles after hawkish Fed comments as FTSE closes higher
The FTSE 100 and European stocks edged higher at the start of a big week when the UK chancellor Jeremy Hunt will deliver his Autumn statement and investors also look ahead to US inflation numbers.
Across the pond, Wall Street was lower after hawkish comments from a US Federal Reserve official tempered hopes of the central bank toning down its aggressive monetary policy approach.
The Dow Jones (^DJI) was gained just 0.2% to 33,814. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) was muted at 3,990 points and the tech-heavy Nasdaq (^IXIC) retreated 0.57% to 11,258.
The FTSE 100 (^FTSE) closed higher, climbing 0.86% to 7,381 points , while the CAC (^FCHI) in Paris advanced 0.2% to 6,607 points. In Germany, the DAX (^GDAXI) rose 0.62% to 14,312.
London’s blue-chip index edged higher as a weaker pound (GBPUSD=X) offered support, with Informa (INF.L) jumping to the top of the index after an upbeat earnings outlook.
The business publisher and events organiser's shares jumped 5.94% as it upgraded its full-year outlook on the back of strong underlying revenue growth in the first 10 months of the year.
Other strong performers were tobacco company Imperial Brands (IMB.L), up 2.28%, and pharmaceutical AstraZeneca (AZN.L), up 2.62%.
In the FTSE AIM (^FTAI), shares of Joules Group (JOUL.L) were up 7.21% after the struggling fashion retailer revealed that it intends to appoint administrators after rescue talks failed.
Read more: UK business confidence hits lowest level since 2009
Over 1,000 jobs are at risk at Joules and the Garden Trading Company as the company has asked for its shares to be suspended.
Meanwhile, Brent crude (BZ=F) retreated to $94 per barrel.
Read more: UK economy at ‘significant’ risk of recession in 2023, says think tank
In Asia, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 (^N225) retreated 1.06% to finish at 27,963 while the Hang Seng (^HSI) in Hong Kong climbed 1.5% to 17,585. The Shanghai Composite (000001.SS) also closed in the red, falling 0.13% to 3,083 points.
