London's leading shares could be about to record their best consecutive run since July 2009, but an opening fall on Wall Street leaves this triumph a bit in the balance.
The FTSE 100 is currently up 9 points at 5246.92, which marks the seventh day of rises, its best run for nearly a year. But Wall Street could spoil the party, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down around 70 points in the first hour or so of trading. Spooking US investors is the Philadelphia Fed's business outlook survey, which showed factory activity dropped from +21.4 in May to +8 in June. Economists were expecting a slight dip to +20.9, but the outcome was the lowest since last August. Analysts said the survey still indicated growth in the economy, but it proved enough of a disappointment to send the shivers through investors again. Weekly jobless claims were also below expectations, which did not help matters.
The US figures suggested the economic recovery - previously supported by various stimuli - was now beginning to falter. And it is starting to outweigh the positive mood generated earlier by optimism about the situation in Europe, specifically the denials that Spain was on the verge of a €250bn EU/IMF bailout and a number of successful bond auctions.
