Sterling avoided a second day of sharp losses, while the Western indices deflated as afternoon went on.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. The pound is still in dire straits. However, with the inflation reading unchanged at 2.0%, and no major Brexit inflammation this Wednesday, the currency was allowed a millimetre or so of breathing room. Cable pushed back towards $1.243, scraping itself off of the floor as it rose 0.2%, while against the euro a 0.1% increase just about lifted it away from what was nearing an 8-month low.
Though today it is fairly flat, straining to hit $65 per barrel, BP (LON:BP) and Shell (LON:RDSa) are still feeling the effects of Brent Crude’s near 3% fall on Tuesday, the oil giants dropping 2.7% and 1.3% respectively. This as the tensions between the US and Iran appeared to ease following pro-negotiation comments from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
This oil slick slipped up the FTSE. The UK index fell half a percent, once again ducking under 7550, a price that is proving tricky for it to keep its head above this week.
The Dow Jones continued its slow-motion retreat from last week’s all-time highs, a 40 point drop causing it to sporadically dip below 27300. It looks like the Dow is in something of a holding pattern, waiting for either a proper US-China trade update – or the likely rate-cutting Fed meeting at the end of the month – before deciding whether to mount another record-breaking charge, or give back some of its recent super-surge.
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