Market Update: Eurozone quarterly growth of 0.3% confirmed – 05.09.2013

Source: Henderson Global Investors

Wall Street posted another day of gains on Wednesday. The S&P 500, the Dow and the Nasdaq all finished higher, gaining 0.8%, 0.7% and 1% respectively. While markets started off weaker on concerns about US military intervention in Syria, the release of the Federal Reserve's September Beige Book buoyed investors. During July and August US economic activity grew at a "modest to moderate" pace, similar to the previous survey. However, the US trade deficit worsened to $39.1bn in July, following a revised shortfall of $34.5bn in June.

In Asia, as expected the Bank of Japan kept its policy unchanged and slightly upgraded its assessment of the economy from “starting to recover” to “recovering moderately”. The Nikkei edged up 0.1% today, while the Shanghai Composite lost 0.2%.

As we write, the FTSE Eurofist 300 is up 0.1% while the FTSE 100 is up 0.4%. The Bank of England and European Central Bank hold their policy meetings today; both are expected to reveal any changes to policy around midday. The second estimate of eurozone second quarter economic growth was confirmed by Eurostat. The region expanded by 0.3% quarter-on-quarter, in line with the first estimate.