Market Summary Week Ending 14/01/2024

It was a mixed week for global indices as investors digested hotter than expected inflation in the US, and the beginning of earnings season for results of Q4 2023.

The US CPI announcement on Thursday came in modestly higher than economists had forecasted, with prices up 0.3% on the month and 3.4% for the 12-month period up to December 31st.

As a result, across the trading week, the major averages notched gains. The Dow Jones added 0.34%, while the S&P 500 advanced 1.84%. The Nasdaq was the major outperformer, rising 3.09% through Friday’s close.

In the UK, the economy grew 0.3% in November, reversing a decline of the same magnitude in October, thanks to strong gains made within service and industrial businesses. However, uncertainty around the outlook for interest rate cuts meant the main UK stock indexes logged weekly declines as traders unwound their positions on aggressive monetary policy easing this year. As a result, both the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 notched nominal losses of 1.27% and 0.96% respectively across the trading week.

Looking to the week ahead, UK CPI data will be released on Wednesday (17th January) with analysts predicting a small decrease in the rate of inflation for the year period up to the end of December.

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.