European markets fret over stagnating eurozone while next US Fed boss Janet Yellen sends Wall Street soaring with stimulus pledge

US markets hit all-time highs last night after Yellen made it clear that there would be no let-up in quantitative easing, the printing of money, for the time being.

But the FTSE 100 rose a modest 14 points to 6,680.1 today while German and French markets were flat in early trading after figures yesterday showed eurozone growth has slowed to a virtual standstill in recent months.

Speaking at her confirmation hearing before the Senate Banking Committee, Yellen said the US economy had regained ground lost during the Great Recession, but that unemployment, at 7.3 per cent, was still ‘too high’.

Following her remarks, the Dow Jones climbed 50 points to a new high of 15,841 and the price of oil and other commodities also rose.