Yahoo Finance FTSE and US stocks mostly buoyant as inflation and interest rates in focus
A look at how the major markets are performing on Tuesday
European and US stocks were mostly buoyant on Tuesday as investors wade into what is set to be a busy week of corporate earnings and economic data.
The FTSE 100 (^FTSE), the DAX (^GDAXI) and the French CAC (^FCHI) were all up by the closing bell in London, sitting at 0.5%, 0.3% and 0.3% higher respectively. Stocks saw an uptick towards the end of the day.
Earlier on Tuesday it was revealed that food inflation fell for the fourth consecutive month in the UK, relieving some of the pressure felt by consumers as the Bank of England cranks up interest rates. Markets are bracing for fresh UK inflation data due to be released on Wednesday.
Among updates from companies were earnings from pharma firm Novartis (NVS), grocery tech company Ocado (OCDO.L) and Australian miner Rio Tinto (RIO.L).
Read more: Trending tickers: Ocado | Novartis | Rio Tinto | Morgan Stanley
Ocado stock was trading almost 20% higher as the trading day closed out, following news that it had seen a return to underlying profit for the first half of the year.
Some US stocks built on Monday's gains, with the S&P 500 (^GSPC) up 0.4% and the the Dow (^DJI) rising 1%. The tech heavy Nasdaq (^IXIC) fell 0.3%.
The results came as fresh data revealed US retail sales had grown at a slower-than-expected pace in June.
Retail sales rose 0.2% in June from the previous month, lower than Wall Street's estimates for 0.5% growth. Sales excluding auto and gas increased 0.3%, in line with estimates from economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Meanwhile, May's sales were revised up to 0.5% from 0.3%.
The pound
Meanwhile, the pound ticked up slightly against the dollar (GBPUSD=X) to flirt with the $1.31 mark.
The past three weeks have seen the pound strengthen, with a rally to as high as $1.31 to the dollar as investors sold the greenback.
The moves come as UK support to rejoin the EU has surpassed 50% for the first time since the Brexit vote seven years ago, according to new polling from YouGov.
Read more: Pound rallies against dollar and euro, but UK economy not out of the woods yet
Oil
Oil headed into the green on Tuesday, with Brent Crude (BZ=F) up around 1.3% to hit about $79.38 a barrel.
US crude stockpile data is due later on today and could move the market further.
US and Asian stocks overnight
Overnight in Asia, major indices were mixed. Chinese stocks dipped following a day-long halt in trading triggered by a storm.
Read more: How does inflation impact currency pairs, like the USD/GBP?
Meanwhile, Chinese data released on Monday intensified concerns about decelerating growth in the country. GDP expanded by 0.8% quarter-on-quarter from April to June compared with 2.2% in Q1.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng (^HSI) finished 2.06% lower and the Shanghai Composite (000001.SS) waned 0.4%. Meanwhile, Japan's Nikkei (^N225) ticked up 0.3%.
Watch: Supermarket deals drive down cost of groceries for fourth month in a row
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