Europe lingered in the red, the market’s anticipation of a week of geo-political drama preventing any kind of rebound.
Slumping half a percent, the FTSE remained the wrong side of 6800 for the first time since the start of the month. A 1.5% pullback from Brent Crude, one that took the black stuff back under $61 per barrel, lopped 1.1% and 0.9% off of BP (LON:BP) and Shell (LON:RDSa) respectively, while Imperial Brands (LON:IMB) fell 3%, ITV (LON:ITV) dropped 2.5% and Barclays (LON:BARC) slipped 2.2%.
This was enough to prevent the UK index from taking much joy in sterling’s early slide. Against both the dollar and the euro the pound fell 0.4%, drifting from last week’s optimistic highs ahead of the latest Brexit Commons vote on Tuesday, one that has perhaps become even more tense due to Ireland’s insistence that it (and the EU as a whole) won’t budge on the all-important backstop issue.
The Eurozone was much the same as the UK. The DAX dipped 0.2%, a better showing then where it was just after the bell, while the CAC dropped 0.5% to sit at 4900.
As for the US open, the Dow Jones is expected to lose 100 points when things get underway Stateside, a move that would drag the index from Friday’s 24700-plus peak.
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