While the pound’s sharp decline against the dollar, and BP’s post-earnings rise, prevented the FTSE from dipping into the red, the Eurozone tumbled following some worrisome GDP data.
The UK index eked out a 0.1% increase as the day went on, a meagre climb that was nevertheless better than the alternative. In contrast sterling had a horrible morning, continuing its post-Budget fall. Against the euro it dropped 0.2%, despite the single currency’s own issues, while against the greenback it shed half a percent, sending cable to a fresh 10 week, sub-$1.245 low.
Over in the Eurozone, the DAX and CAC both lost 0.4% as investors processed a shock GDP reading. Though the Q2 figure was revised higher, from 0.3% to 0.4%, this meant little given the preliminary Q3 number was just 0.2%, half of what analysts had been expecting. The US-EU trade war, alongside uncertainty stemming from America’s battle with China, hurt the region’s economy, as did country-specific problems like Italy’s budget issues, which potentially contributed to the nation’s stagnant Q3 performance.
Turning to this afternoon and, at the moment, the Dow Jones is set to jump 100-ish points when the bell rings on Wall Street. Given the miserable European trading, however, that growth could well dissipate before the open. As for data, investors will get a chance to gauge how US consumers are feeling with the latest CB confidence number, forecast to slip from 138.4 to 136.3 month-on-month.
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