Afternoon comment courtesy of Spreadex – 26/07/13

This time 1 month ago the FTSE 100 was trading 550 points lower at 6,000, but a wealth of good earnings from both U.S & UK companies along with the Fed reaffirming their accommodative stance on monetary policy has driven this impressive rally. Of the FTSE 100 companies who had reported second quarter earnings by Thursday’s close, 60 percent beat or met expectations. Whilst amongst S&P500 companies over 7% that have reported have posted better than expected earnings. 

Along with strong earnings, a string of impressive data has helped support the markets including encouraging retail sales and Flash GDP numbers. However, the FTSE looks set for its first weekly fall in more than a month on Friday, faltering at resistance levels. Additionally, with U.S stock futures looking to open down some 55 points, the S&P 500 is heading for its first weekly fall in 5. 

It is worth noting that that S&P 500 is heading for a 5.2 percent monthly gain, the biggest since October 2011. Next week we have Non-farm Employment data to look forward to, which could be the crucial catalyst to push UK & U.S indices through resistance levels.