Stocks rose strongly on Thursday after the soon-to-be Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen said that the US economy is still performing “far short of [its] potential”, sparking hopes that the central bank will continue with its stimulus programme for the time being.

The dovish comments prompted yet another record finish on Wall Street last night with both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 rising to all-time highs.

As for this morning, corporate news is thin on the ground with earnings season coming to a close “so the immediate attention is on today’s macro menu with harmonised inflation from the Eurozone being the show stealer in the region”, said Market Strategist Ishaq Siddiqi from ETX Capital.

The final revision of Eurozone consumer price inflation is expected to confirm the initial estimate of an annual price rise of 0.7% in October, though this eased unexpectedly from 1.1% the month before.

The European Central Bank’s Erkki Liikanen and Yves Mersch are both due to speak today so comments over policy following last week’s rate cut will be closely watched.

Economic data Stateside will also be in focus today with the Empire State manufacturing index, import prices, industrial production and manufacturing output figures all due out this afternoon.

Vedanta up after first-half report

Mining group Vedanta Resources was in demand this morning despite reporting a 17% drop in first-half revenue to $6.2bn on the back of falling commodity prices. Nevertheless, the firm still managed to achieve record oil and gas production and an increase in the output of refined zinc, lead and silver at Zinc India.

Other miners including Antofagasta and Anglo American were also making gains early on.

Oil stocks were also on the advance, tracking crude prices higher this morning, with Tullow, BG and Shell among the best performers. Brent was up 1.3% at $108.54 a barrel on hopes over a continued monetary stimulus from the States.

Defence, security and transport firm Ultra Electronics was a heavy faller after warning that revenue for 2013 would be slightly below the previous year’s, hit by “a number of headwinds”, in particular the US government-funded market.

Drinks group SABMiller fell after saying that Chairman Graham Mackay is to take another medical leave of absence after a deterioration of his health.

Source: ShareCast