US Independence Day

A quiet day is expected on the markets as the US is closed for the independence day holidays. Whilst European and Asian markets themselves are open, the US being closed often leads to a lacklustre day of trading as investors await more market liquidity from the size and drive of US markets to propel action. 

Aussie interest rates

Overnight, the Reserve Bank of Australia left interest rates untouched, as they decided to take a step back to assess the impact of recent interest rate changes. Their current interest rate stands at 4.1%, which is still the highest level it has been at in 11 years. Australian inflation was registered at 5.6% in May, showing that there is still some way to go to get it back to the desired 2% levels. The interest rate has been raised 12 times in over a year, and they have already warned that despite this pause, there may be further to come. 

AstraZeneca shares plummet

AstraZeneca shares fell by over 8% yesterday, taking out nearly £14 billion off their stock market value. The pharmaceutical company, which is listed on the British FTSE100 but has a dual Swedish- Anglo heritage, had released the findings of a recent lung cancer drug trial. Whilst the findings of the tests weren’t exactly negative, investors were seemingly disappointed and viewed it as a less successful drug than others developed by the company which resulted in the hasty sell-off of shares.

Sources: IG, AJ Bell, Nasdaq, The Guardian, Financial Times