Having rebounded on Wednesday, the markets tanked again on Thursday, the prospect of crunch-time trade talks between the US and China – talks that have until 12.01am on Friday to try and avert Trump’s latest tariff smack down – doing nothing to relieve the market’s unease.
Banks, miners, oil stocks were all in a terrible state at the start of the session, forcing the FTSE more than half a percent lower. That leaves the index barely above 7230, and at its worst price for 6-weeks.
That kind of performance was replicated in the Eurozone. The DAX dropped 1.1%, returning the German bourse to 12070, a handful of points above Monday’s 3-week low. The CAC, meanwhile, was stripped of 50 points, the index tumbling under 5350.
Considering the ticking trade clock, investors are going to be hyper-vigilant for any signs that the US and China might be able to pull back from the brink; however, any news likely won’t be until this afternoon, leaving the European indices to wallow in thoughts of the worst-case scenario.
The macro-focused trading meant that a couple of Thursday’s big corporate updates got lost in the shuffle. First quarter like-for-like retail sales at Morrisons (LON:MRW) were up a meagre 0.2%, continuing a worrying quarter-on-quarter slide that has been in place across the last year, and way off analysts’ estimates of 0.5%. Once again the company was rescued by the wholesale side of things, the division – which supplies Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) and McColl’s – seeing like-for-like growth of 2.1%. The supermarket dipped 0.3% as investors processed the report, unable to reverse the slump that set in back in February.
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.