London View

China Stimulus Leads to Index Gains, Netflix Rolling Out Largest Expansion to Date

The Hang-Seng and Shanghai Composite both closed up this morning, boosted by rapid government action taken in response to disappointing data over the weekend. China is set to provide greater liquidity to some of its largest banks, with a stimulus package worth 500 billion Yuan. The surprisingly quick move to address weak points in the economy pushed the Shanghai Composite and Hang Seng higher this morning, the former closing up by 0.49% and the latter closing up by 1.07%

US Markets yesterday saw the S&P 500 moving back up towards the 2k level,  closing up by 0.75%, with the Dow also closing up, by 0.59% as investors appeared confident that the Federal Reserve will not be making any announcements of interest rate rises for the time being. The Fed is due to announce a decision on interest rates later today. 

The FTSE has been fluctuating this morning, with expectations of soft-pedalling by the Fed regarding interest rate rises on the one hand and uncertainty regarding tomorrows’ Scottish Independence Referendum on the other. The biggest loser on the FTSE today is Smiths Group, with the British engineering company down by around 4.8% this trading after reporting a 10% fall in headline operating profit for the full year.

In other stocks news, Netflix stock closed down by 0.18% yesterday, though it rose by 0.21% in after-hours trading. The video-streaming company is rolling out operations in a range of European countries this week, launching in France, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland and Luxembourg. This is the firm’s largest international expansion to date, and it remains to be seen whether the US-based site will be able to hold its own against a range of local competitors, particularly in France and Germany.