The FTSE’s decent start quickly disappeared on Friday as the European markets fully resumed their Fed-led slide.
Shedding half a percent, the UK index found itself the wrong side of 6800 and back at its recent 2 year-plus lows. Brent Crude’s 2.5% plunge, one that took the black stuff under $53.30 per barrel, helped push BP (LON:BP) and Shell (LON:RDSa) into the red, undermining the FTSE’s unchanged open in the process.
The Eurozone, meanwhile, saw a 0.4% drop for the DAX and a 0.7% fall for the CAC, the latter suffering slightly more thanks to the downwards revision to France’s Q3 growth. That disappointing Gallic GDP reading also did a number on the euro, which lost 0.4% against both the pound and the dollar.
Turning to this afternoon and the Dow Jones is currently set to rise 0.3%, an increase that would just about lift it above 22900. How it performs after the bell, however, is likely dependant on the state of the final US Q3 GDP reading; anything lower than the forecast 3.5% could cause that meagre rebound to disappear rather quickly.
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