A dollar-damaging ISM services PMI took the edge off the Dow Jones’s own decline, the index flipping into the green as the US session got underway.
The Dow spent the early part of the session dancing around 23400, before pushing around 30 points higher to leave it closer to 23500. This as the greenback dropped 0.3% against the pound, allowing cable to climb back above $1.278, and 0.6% against the euro, with the single currency lifting towards $1.147. Whether or not the Dow can use this to kick start a more substantial rally is going to be almost entirely dependent on the outcome of the US-China trade talks currently going on in Beijing.
With sterling gaining a leg up over the dollar, the FTSE saw its first Monday of 2019 go from bad to worse. From an initial 0.1% this morning, the UK index is down 0.8%, remaining the wrong side of 6800; the index will now be hoping for a some New Year cheer from Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Tesco (LON:TSCO) over the next few days, just to try and tip the balance back in the FTSE’s favour.
As for the eurozone, the DAX continued to lurk 20 or so points above 10700 after dipping 0.3%, with the CAC shedding half a percent as it strained to hold itself the right side of 4700.
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