FTSE 100 rises as traders hope for Boris Johnson intervention in Brexit trade negotiations with the EU

The FTSE 100 was set to start the week positively today with modest gains as the City awaited the details of Boris Johnson’s plans to end the current lockdown.

Reports have said lockdown will end as originally planned in December but will be replaced by a tougher regime of tiers, the precise nature of which will dictate share prices for the next few days.

Leisure stocks in particular will be sensititive to whatever the Prime Minister has planned for them, with hopes riding high that London will be spared the worst curbs due to its relatively low Covid rates.

The extent of the lockdown over Christmas will also be key to the profits of retailers, with supermarkets being particularly affected by the outlook for big family festive meals.

The PM’s stance on the Brexit trade negotiations will also be key to share prices amid speculation that he is to become far more involved. Markets are optimistic of a last ditch deal.

The FTSE 100 is expected to rise 17 points to 6368,with the Dax in Germany up 53 at 13,190 and France’s CAC 40 up 27 at 5522.

Gains will be capped by concerns about the spread of Covid in the US, where the pandemic runs rampant.

US treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin worried investors by saying he would allow the Federal Reserve’s emergency funding capabilities to expire at the end of December, which would stop central bank aid programmes.

While that worried investors keen for a Covid fiscal support programme in the US, for some it served as an indication that the US administration believes the country has turned a corner economically and is no longer in need of support.

Quite how he might reach that conclusion is anyone’s guess, given the galloping levels of unemployment which, although falling, remain far higher than have been seen in recent years, Covid cases hitting 12 million and numerous states going into lockdown.