Markets: (Data compiled by The Outsourced Marketing Department)

As reported last month, the political brinkmanship in Washington over the National budget ran up to the wire, with Congress only agreeing to raise the borrowing limit just before midnight ahead of the deadline date of October 17th.

The result in the global market place was a communal sigh of relief. The FTSE100 had dipped as low as 6,337.9 during the month, but recovered strongly after the announcement to close October at 6,731.4, to record a 6.2% gain from its low point and an overall 4.1% gain for the month. The wider FTSE250 followed suit, ending the month at 15,480.0, an improvement of 3.8% from September’s close.

Meanwhile, the junior AIM market closed up 1.46% at 808.39. Across the pond the Dow Jones eventually recorded a gain of 2.75%, finishing at 15,545.75, with the Nasdaq faring slightly better with a 3.93% improvement to 3,919.71.

Benefiting from benign political activity, Europe saw a stronger equity performance with the Eurostoxx50 powering to 3,067.95 for a monthly gain of 6.04%.

Again in Japan there was little political or fiscal stimulus, so the Nikkei 225 finished the month virtually flat at 14,327.94, a modest dip of 0.88% in the month.

In the currency markets sterling benefited from the uncertainty around the US dollar, gaining initially in the month; however, with the US political settlement, the dollar recovered to $1.60, so sterling finished off 1.48% at the close.

Likewise, against the Euro sterling fell by 1.42% to finish at €1.18, meaning the Euro/US dollar rate was little changed on the month, at $1.35.

The political uncertainty triggered a reactionary rise in the oil price, as the benchmark Brent Crude rose to $108.84, an increase of 1.8%, but the gold bullion price was stable, closing out October at $1,321.37 an ounce, down less than 1%.

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