FTSE 100 finishes flat as a pancake; Wall Street shakes off capital gains tax

• FTSE 100 dup less than a point
• JP Morgan apologises
• COVID-19 infections fell by 65% after first dose of vaccine

5.10pm: FTSE ekes out a positive close, but just barely

The FTSE 100 ended Friday very nearly exactly flat, up less than half a point to under 6,939. The FTSE 250 added 7 points to 22,372.

One laggard was easyJet plc (), considered a reopening play, which saw shares drop 2.5% to £986.40.

In the US, the Dow shook off a slow start and lingering pessimism around a potential capital gains tax increase out of the White House to climb 164 points, 0.6%, to 33,980 at midday. The Nasdaq increased 195 points, 1.4%, to 14,013, and the S&P 500 improved 42 points, 1%, to 4,177. 

“US services activity is rebounding at a rate not seen for at least 11 years, as the PMI for the sector hits 62.2,” IG Chief Market Analyst Chris Beauchamp wrote Friday. “The European figures remain strong as well, but without the benefit of fiscal stimulus and a still-struggling vaccine response it is perhaps harder to see whether these parts of the global economy can continue to recover at a similar pace to the US. Considering the significant changes expected by the Biden tax hike US stocks are remaining quite resilient, helped along by the continued good news flowing from earnings season.”

3.30pm: JP Morgan apologises for European Super League kerfuffle

FTSE 100 pared its losses before close and was down 14 points to 6,923.

US investment bank JP Morgan Inc () has apologised for its role as the financier of the proposed European Super League (ESL) and said it misjudged the mood of the European football public.

The Wall Street giant had arranged a £4bn finance package to bankroll the project, but it collapsed within days of being announced due to a furious backlash from fans, players and politicians.

In a rare public apology, the bank said: “We clearly misjudged how this deal would be viewed by the wider football community and how it might impact them in the future. We will learn from this.”

3.10pm: Proactive North America headlines:

Naturally Splendid Enterprises Ltd () (OTCPINK:NSPDF) (FRA:50N) says third shipping container of Natera Plant Based Foods has arrived from Australia

Energy Fuels Inc (NYSE:UUUU) () (FRA:VO51) receives another US$1.75M from US Department of Energy for rare earth feasibility study

() () (FRA:4UY) applauds Canadian parliament’s passing of bill to legalize single event sports wagering

CytoDyn Inc () raises another $25M for Vyrologix development in second covertable debt offering this month

() () (FRA:20Q) intersects sediment-hosted copper at Lost Cities-Cutucu project in Ecuador

Aequus Pharmaceuticals Inc () () (FRA:AEQ) sees fiscal 2020 revenue rise by 59%, driven by strong sales of Vistitan and Tacrolimus

Inc () (OTCMKTS:MGXRF) (FRA:0E9) inks US$200,000 contract with leading cloud provider for pilot demonstration of energy storage system

2.42pm: Mixed start for Wall Street

It was a mixed picture for Wall Street on Friday morning as investors continued to worry about the potential of US tax hikes.

In the early minutes of trading, the S&P 500 was up 0.23% at 4,144 and the Nasdaq rose 0.42% to 13,876. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was the negative outlier, down 0.1% at 33,783.

Meanwhile, the downturn in crypto markets continued to impact shares in crypto trading platform (), which was down 2.3% at US$287.23 in early trading in New York.

Back in London, the FTSE 100 had recovered some losses into late afternoon but was still down 33 points at 6,905 at around 2.40pm.

1.30pm: COVID-19 infections fall significantly after single dose vaccines are rolled out, study shows

FTSE 100 was firmly in the red in the early afternoon, down 41 points to 6,896.

A new real-life study has shown that COVID-19 infections fell by 65% after a first dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca or -BioNTech vaccines…