With multiple reports stating that China will ‘never surrender’ in the trade war – though the country is yet to actually retaliate – the markets remained fretful on Monday.
The FTSE was rescued from the kind of slump seen over in the Eurozone by its oil stocks – though the reason why wasn’t particularly pleasant. A ‘sabotage attack’ on two Saudi Arabian oil tankers, thankfully with no casualties, resulted in a 1.5% rise for Brent Crude and a subsequent 1.2% increase for both BP (LON:BP) and Shell (LON:RDSa).
Those gains, alongside a 2.4% rebound from the reporting Centrica (LON:CNA), limited the FTSE’s losses to just 0.2%; still, that was enough to keep it at a near 7-week low and leave it teetering on a 7200 cliff-edge.
Lacking that oil-assistance, the Eurozone indices took another turn south. The DAX sank 100 points, dropping under 11970 to hit a one-month low; the CAC, meanwhile, found itself tumbling below 5300 as it lost 5300.
And there’s every chance that trading could get a lot worse once the US gets involves. The Dow futures have the index plunging another 300 points when the bell rings on Wall Street, wiping out last Friday’s rebound and forcing it to a 6 and a half-week low of 25650. There’s basically nothing on the agenda to distract from the US-China trade tug-of-war this afternoon, meaning it is going to hard for the Dow Jones to avoid starting with a bloodied nose.
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