Having put on a brave face as lunchtime approached, the markets returned to the red scenes seen just after the bell, with the Dow Jones matching Europe’s losses.
The Dow dipped nearly 50 points as the US session got underway, a shift that took the index back to 25400. To be honest, the Dow can count itself lucky that those losses weren’t larger, the sting taken out of the recent US-China trade war escalation as investors got distracted by Monday’s Brexit blues.
Though the Western markets were almost uniformly in the red, the day’s real loser was the pound. Plunging half a percent against the dollar – cable is at a fresh 11 month low – and 0.3% against the euro, sterling was spooked by the apparent increase in likelihood of a ‘no-deal’ Brexit, with international trade secretary Liam Fox echoing Mark Carney’s claims last week that the chances of the UK leaving the EU without an agreement in place is becoming more and more of a reality.
While the pound’s plight did limit the FTSE’s own decline, it wasn’t completely immune to the malaise seen by its peers. The UK index slipped 0.2%, putting it at the lower end of its recent 7650 to 7700 trading bracket, and around 130 points adrift of last Tuesday’s intraday highs.
"Disclaimer: Spreadex provides an execution only service and the comments above do not constitute (or should not be construed as constituting) investment advice or recommendations, or a record of our trading prices, or an offer of, or solicitation for, a transaction in any financial instrument. Any person placing trades based on their interpretations of the above comments does so entirely at their own risk. Spreadex Ltd is a financial and sports spread betting and sports fixed odds betting firm, which specialises in the personal service and credit area. Founded in 1999, Spreadex is recognised as one of the longest established spread betting firms in the industry with a strong reputation for its high level of customer service and account management.
In relation to spread betting, Spreadex Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Spread betting carries a high level of risk to your capital and can result in losses larger than your initial stake/deposit. It may not be suitable for everyone, so please ensure you fully understand the risks involved.