The European markets attempted to shrink their losses as the day went on, largely thanks to the sorry state of the pound and euro.
Though the Dow Jones was in a bad way after the bell, shedding nearly 300 points as US investors woke up to China’s slowdown-signifying overnight data, its previously ropey European peers were looking a bit better as the day went on.
The FTSE, which at points had fallen under 6800, halved its decline to around 0.5%, leaving it teasing 6850. The DAX pulled off a similar trick, rising from 10730 at its lowest point to 10850, a 1%-plus mid-morning fall reduced to a slightly more manageable half a percent drop.
This seems to be because sterling and its single currency cousins are having a rather miserable end to the week. The pound bore the worst of it, plunging 0.9% against the dollar and 0.2% against the euro as investors processed Theresa May’s latest failed attempts to get the EU onside and willing to change aspects of the Irish backstop to make it more palatable for her domestic enemies.
The euro, meanwhile, was down 0.7% against the greenback, suffering in the aftermath of the weakest flash manufacturing and services PMIs for 4 years.
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