On both sides of the Atlantic it has been a day of slight gains for both the FTSE 100 and the Dow Jones.

Catering business Compass continues to lead the UK’s leading index after it announced a rise in profits, currently up 25.90p (6.44%).

HSBC and Barclays also managed to hold on to earlier gains after this morning’s beneficial ruling from the Supreme Court concerning unauthorised overdrafts.

Miners continued to underpin the FTSE’s gains, with Rangold Resources up 155.00p, a rise of 3.08% and BHP Billiton gaining 56p (+3.01%). The sector continues to be boosted by the weakening Dollar as weary investors flock to gold as a means of secure investment.

The Dollar has now fallen for the third straight day and is currently at its lowest levels in more than 15 months.

Before the opening bell US stock-index futures indicated that the US markets would open positively. While the Dow opened lower than yesterday’s close by 3.00pm (London time), it had climbed 12.59 points (+0.24%) to 5336.55, while the broader S&P 500 was up slightly by 1.03 points (+0.09%) to 1106.68. The Nasdaq was also in positive territory, up 3.86 points (+0.18%) to 2173.04.

Heading up the Dow’s leader board was American Express with a rise of 0.72%, Intel with a gain of 0.52% and Proctor & Gamble which rose 0.56%.

While among the losers were technology heavyweight Microsoft, down 0.30%, and General Electric Co. with a drop of 0.19%.

The share price of US food producer Kraft also dipped slightly as the company continues in its attempts to purchase British based Cadbury for £10.3 billion.

The takeover is by no means guaranteed as Kraft engages in discussions with union representatives who seek assurances that their will be no compulsory redundancies among the Cadbury workforce.

Yesterday, Cadbury’s share price rose on the FTSE following speculation of the takeover, however, today they are virtually neutral, trading at 808.00p a change of 0%.

The big news out of the states was the US initial jobless claims figures. The figures showed that the number of claims has fallen to its lowest levels since September 2008. 466,000 Americans were claiming as of the week ending November 21 down from 501,000 a week earlier.

While analysts may consider this further good news that the US economy is firmly out of the doldrums, it is worth taking into account that after slashing more than seven million jobs following the spectre of the credit crunch US companies may not be able to shed any more workers.

As the economy continues to recover, US companies may well need their workforces as production needs increase.

By Anthony Grech, Research Analyst, IG Index.

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