The FTSE 100 continued to grind upwards on Friday morning, putting it on course to end a pivotal week in positive territory.
With many of the big US names reporting this week and the Federal Reserve delivering its latest decision on rates this always felt like a make or break week and fragile markets have just about emerged intact.
AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould said: “It says something about the looking glass nature of investing right now that seemingly bad news in the shape of the US meeting the technical conditions for a recession – even if the ultimate arbiter the National Bureau of Economic Research is still to deliver its verdict – is seen as a positive development as it might lead the Fed to ease back on rate hikes.
“Also helping sentiment was good news from Amazon and Apple, with both managing to deliver better-than-expected sales despite rising prices and a weakening consumer outlook.
“It suggests that, for now at least, these elite companies are sufficiently ingrained in the everyday lives of their customers to keep demand sticky, and their awesome buying power is sparing them from some of the pain felt by others on rising costs.
“Drug maker AstraZeneca is something of a stock market rarity right now – a company trading at fresh record highs in 2022. But it appeared to fall victim to profit taking this morning as it beat expectations for the second quarter and raised its full-year guidance, yet got only raspberries in response from investors.”
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