Confirmation of a deal between Italy and EU instilled a modicum of Christmas cheer in the markets as Wednesday went on.
Having been flat at the open, the DAX and CAC rose 0.6% and 0.4% respectively, while the FTSE MIB shot up 1.6%, after news broke that Rome and Brussels had reached an agreement over the former’s contentious, EU rule-ignoring 2019 budget. That removes at least one major ingredient from 2018’s wretched roast dinner, though wasn’t enough to trigger a full-on Santa rally. The German and French indices didn’t see more substantial growth likely because the euro took 0.4% off both the dollar and sterling.
As for the FTSE, it reclaimed 50 points, aided not only by the improved sentiment in the Eurozone, but the pound’s post-inflation dip – the latest CPI reading was confirmed to have fallen from 2.4% to 2.3% month-on-month – and GlaxoSmithKline's (LON:GSK) 7.5% jump following news it was spinning off its consumer healthcare division.
The Dow Jones is set to join in with the gains after the bell, the futures suggesting a 100 point increase, one that would leave it close to 23800. The Dow might struggles to sustain any growth, however, given the relative uncertainty around this evening’s Fed meeting, specifically what kind of tone it will strike looking ahead to 2019.
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