Market update: US retail sales surprise on the upside – 14.05.2013

Source: Henderson Global Investors

Wall Street finished mixed yesterday with the Dow Jones falling 0.2% and the S&P 500 finishing flat. This came despite better-than-expected US retail sales figures – up 0.1% in April against predictions of a 0.3% fall. As consumer spending accounts for around two-thirds of US economic activity, it had been feared that tighter fiscal policy would weigh heavily on consumption.

Today in Asia, the South Korean market outperformed its neighbours as automakers began to rise on bargain hunting having made steep losses as a result of the weaker yen. Chinese shares did not fare so well and fell from yesterday’s release of lower-than-expected April industrial output growth.

This morning, UK markets opened with Severn Trent jumping 15% after talk of a takeover approach – a group of buyers including Borealis Infrastructure and Kuwait Investment Office have reportedly offered £5.3bn. Vodafone’s shares fell 0.5% despite its dividend pay-out from its stake in Verizon Wireless and Lonmin shares dropped 6.5% due to strikes by its South African miners. At the time of writing the FTSE 100 is down 0.1% and the FTSE Eurofirst 300 is 0.4% lower.