Equities traders are "taking a breather" after the end of the 11-day FTSE 100 rally, claimed David Jones, chief market strategist at spread-betting firm IG Index.Speaking to the Times, he explained that the flat performance of equities witnessed on both sides of the Atlantic yesterday would only be a temporary break from a more sustained rally.He said that traders had become jittery once more after the publication of weak US consumer confidence data, but claimed that these fears would subside quickly."It's said that bull markets climb a wall of worry and after the steep gains seen over the past couple of weeks, stock markets were maybe looking for an excuse to ease back and relax a little," Mr Jones postulated.This morning (July 29th), the yen and the dollar have advanced against the euro, while higher yielding currencies such as the Australian dollar fell as traders recalibrated their appetite to risk.Speaking to Bloomberg, Takeshi Makita, a Tokyo-based economist at Japan Research Institute, said that there is scepticism surrounding the prospects for sustained economic recovery.