Wall Street green in early deals; FTSE 100 finishes higher

12pm EST/ 5pm:  FTSE 100 closes up

FTSE 100 index closed Wednesday in the green and over 6,000 as traders turned towards a more ‘risk-on’ attitude.

Britain’s top share index closed over 82 points higher, or 1.39%, at 6,012.

Midcap FTSE 250, however, the more UK company focused index, shed around 30 points at 17,594 as Brexit jitters  continue. On Wall Street, markets were higher

“Stock markets are back in rally mode as investors look to get back to their ‘buy the dip’ ways that proved so successful over the past few months,” said Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at online trader IG.

“While the pullback has only really lasted a few days, that is the norm for this rally since March. The drop in early June was swift and brutal, but short-lived. The early September version appears to be heading in the same direction.”

US and Canada 11.30am EST/4.30pm

Wall Street benchmarks went higher in early deals in New York with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up almost 500 points at 27,988. The broader- based S&P 500 advanced over 68 points at 3,400.  The Nasdaq added over 274 points at 11,123. Meanwhile, up in Toronto, the TSX zoomed up more than 225 points at 16,324.

3.15pm/10:15am EST: Proactive North America headlines:

The Flowr Corporation (CVE:FLWR) (OTCMKTS:FLWPF) closes its fourth tranche of funding from C$3 million agreement with Terrace Global Inc

NexTech AR Solutions Corp (OTCQB:NEXCF) (CSE:NTAR) (FRA:N29) acquires eCommerce software platform Next Level Ninjas

Tinka Resources Ltd (CVE:TK) (OTCPINK:TKRFF) gearing up for 7,000m drill program at Peru project to kick off by end of month

HighGold Mining Inc  (CVE:HIGH) (OTCQX:HGGOF) continues to hit high grades with drilling at flagship Johnson Tract gold project in Alaska

ImagineAR Inc (CSE:IP) (OTCQB:IPNFF) wins $250,000 licensing deal to provide its augmented reality platform to WaV Sports & Entertainment

Amryt Pharma PLC (NASDAQ:AMYT) (LON:AMYT) h hails phase III success for skin gel as “significant milestone”

Great Bear Resources Ltd (CVE:GBR) (OTCQX:GTBAF) adds more high-grade gold intercepts at the LP Fault on its Dixie project

Phunware Inc (NASDAQ:PHUN) inks MaaS platform licensing win for a patient-centric digital front door mobile application portfolio with one of the leading pediatric hospitals in the US

Newgioco Group Inc (NASDAQ:NWGI) (FRA:3UW) gets regulatory nod to bring Elys sportsbook to Washington DC

Milestone Scientific Inc (NYSEAMERICAN:MLSS) seeing recovery in wand dental business as it advances sales efforts for its CompuFlo and CathCheck tech

9.40am: Wall Street starts ahead

The main Wall Street indices defied expectations on Wednesday by moving into positive territory shortly after the opening bell.

In the early minutes of trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.89% at 27,746 while the S&P 500 jumped 1.31% to 3,375 and the Nasdaq climbed 1.85% to 11,048.

Traders seem keen to kick off a rebound following the recent tech rout, while also shrugging off worries about coronavirus vaccines and trade tensions between the US and China.

The higher open may also show that investors considered the Nasdaq’s correction to be a healthy one after it scaled record highs earlier this year, and could potentially be a temporary setback as opposed to a trend.

7.40am: Wall Street to open in the red

Wall Street is expected to open lower but not too hard hit by the setback on the Oxford vaccine, which investors worldwide have shrugged off as something that can be resolved quickly.

The UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency told Reuters on Wednesday it was reviewing all information with urgency to see if the trial can be restarted as soon as possible.

Experts were not surprised by the hurdle, considering how lengthy and complex vaccine trials usually are.

“This is unlikely to be the last setback on a clinical trial for a vaccine, and the market reaction seems to reflect that, however, it also means that the idea we will see a positive vaccine outcome by year end is optimistic at best,” said Michael Hewson, analyst at CMC Markets.

US stocks are recovering after the beating tech stocks took on Tuesday, the first trading day of the US week.

Analysts expected a correction of the Nasdaq following a remarkable year, rocketing 83% from pandemic low in March to the peak a week ago.

“The world has changed a lot in a very short period of time and tech has undoubtedly been best placed to reap the rewards but the big problem is valuing a sector like this in the midst of the pandemic,” said Craig Erlam, analyst at OANDA.

“The world will not return to what it was in February and it won’t continue as it is now. And the void in between these two realities is vast, which makes valuing these firms more difficult than ever.”

Four things to watch for on Wednesday:

• Share price reaction for clothing brand Lululemon Athletica Inc (NASDAQ:LULU) after the apparel maker reported better than expected results late on Tuesday
• In a similar vein, shares in workplace communication app Slack Technologies Inc (NYSE:WORK) will also be in focus after the company unexpectedly broke even in its quarterly results late yesterday
• Shares in jewelry firm Tiffany & Co (NYSE:TIF) after it filed suit against LVMH Moët Hennessy after the French group backed out of a planned US$16.2 billion merger claiming delay pressures from both Tiffany and the French government
• Political reaction following an announcement from Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden that he will propose an offshoring penalty establishing a 28% corporate tax rate plus a 10% penalty surtax on profits for any American firm that sells products made overseas back to the US market

Story by ProactiveInvestors