The FTSE slipped in an oil stick on Friday, gifting back Thursday’s post-ECB growth and then some as Brent Crude fell 1.3%.
Fearing the announcement of an increase in production at next week’s OPEC meeting, Brent Crude dropped back below $75 per barrel, its worst price in 9 days. This forced BP (LON:BP) and Shell (LON:RDSa) down 1.4% and 1.8% respectively, and, combined with trade war-fearing losses in the mining and banking sectors, caused the FTSE to return home to 7700 following a 1.1% plunge.
The UK index wasn’t helped by the pound recovering from its early slump. The dollar had flaunted its dominance after the bell; however, as investors digested news that Donald Trump is pushing ahead with $50 billion in tariffs on Chinese imports, the forex markets flattened out, the greenback losing its initial gusto.
Turning to this afternoon, and having fallen following the Fed’s hawkish rate hike, the Dow Jones is set to drop a further 150 points when the bell rings on Wall Street. That decline, one that would send the Dow back to 25000, is assumedly related to Trump’s trade war tactics, something that undermines the fairly solid gains the index had been posting in June (before this week began, at least).
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