London shares rise on rate hopes

Bond yields continue to fall yesterday, with the UK 10-year Gilt down 10bps to 4.321%, and so did oil prices, as investors cheered dovish comments from Fed officials and rumours of a new economic stimulus from Chinese authorities. Even higher producer prices in the US didn’t dampen the mood. Commodity stocks underperformed. The FTSE 100 inched down 0.1%.

Today, data showed British economic output expanded by 0.2% between August and July, in line with expectations. The market welcomed the announcement, even though it isn’t stellar growth, and the FTSE 100 was up 0.3% at 9.30 am, tracking a good performance in Asia overnight.

Among stocks, BAE Systems shares continue to rise and were up 1.3% this morning due to ongoing troubles in the Middle East.

Cyber security firm Darktrace fell 7% after posting its financial year trading update, while Easyjet was down 3.7%, despite posting strong results.

Things to read today:

How commodity markets are defying the new cold war (Financial Times)

Macron and Scholz Are Paddling in Opposite Directions (Bloomberg)