A chaotic, rambling first presidential debate did little for the markets, causing a fairly slow start to Wednesday morning.
One of the more notable elements after the bell was the pound’s decline against the dollar and euro, sterling falling 0.3% against both its rivals. Sterling’s misfortune comes after MPs passed the UK Internal Market Bill last night – an international law-breaking success that, potentially fatally, undermines the country’s trade deal negotiations with the EU.
This gave the FTSE a leg up over its European peers. The UK index rose 0.4%, ensuring it remained above 5900 after flirting with drifting below that level in the early moments of the session.
In contrast, the Eurozone indices hit the snooze button. The DAX, at most, dipped 0.1% – keeping it the right side of 12800, but only just – while the CAC was essentially flat at 4825.
Looking ahead to the US open and, unimpressed by last night’s presidential shenanigans, and stuck waiting for a covid-19 spending plan that feels like it is never going to come, the Dow Jones is facing a 110 point fall when trading starts stateside. That’d cause the index to lose another chunk of Monday’s sharp rebound, sending it back to 27350.
As for data, this afternoon sees the ADP nonfarm employment charge reading, expected to rise from 428k to 650k month-on-month, alongside the final looking at America’s Q2 GDP number, which is set to be confirmed at -31.7%.
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