Market Summary Week Ending 03/09/2023

Global Indices gained traction to open up September’s trading, buoyed by a growing expectation that the Federal Reserve will pause on any further interest rate rises at this month’s meeting. There were also hopes that China’s steady drip feed of policy stimulus might stabilise the economy, following concerns of the state of the Chinese economy and commercial property markets within recent weeks.

In the UK, the blue-chip FTSE 100 index rose for a second consecutive week on Friday, driven by heavyweight oil and mining stocks and by further optimism seen in the US and China. As a result, The FTSE 100 & 250 both had positive weeks with gains of 1.84% and 2.32% respectively.

In the United States, data showed that the unemployment rate rose in August and wage growth slowed, spurring expectations that the Federal Reserve could pause its interest rate hikes at its September meeting on 19th/20th September.

The latest U.S. nonfarm payrolls report showed the unemployment rate ticked higher to 3.8% in August, reaching its highest level in more than a year, against analysts’ expectations that it would remain at 3.5%.

As a result, across the trading week, The Dow Jones and the Nasdaq added 1.40% and about 3.3% for the week, respectively, notching their best performances since July. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 gained 2.5% to register its best week since June.

Please note for this weekly summary, we focus on the major indices within the financial markets such as the FTSE 100 (UK) and the Dow Jones and NASDAQ (US) to provide a factual account of what has happened within a certain index. Performance figures quoted are factual from the previous week’s trading and this summary is for commentary purposes only.

The performance of these indices is not a representation of an individual fund or portfolio. Past performance is no guarantee of future returns. The value of your investment can go down as well as up. You could get back less than you originally invested.