Keen to see out the end of a painful week with minimal fuss, the European indices started slower than they have done in the last few sessions.
Despite the pound’s gains against the dollar and the euro – up 0.3% and 0.2% respectively – the FTSE managed to eke out a 0.2% increase in the early moments of Friday morning. That puts the UK index at 5840, around 150 points from where it started the week.
As for the Eurozone indices, they were sluggish out of the gate. The DAX dipped 0.2%, keeping it from 12600, while the CAC was the wrong side of 4750 following a 0.4% slide.
Clawing together a 50 point rebound last night, the Dow Jones is currently looking for a similarly meek rise this afternoon. The 0.2% increase suggested by the Dow futures would push the index to 26870, around 800 points from where it opened on Monday.
It is unclear as to what is going to drive trading this Friday. The one thing that could pull the markets out of their funk is a covid-19 spending plan from the United States. The latest reports are that the Democrats have readied a $2.4 trillion plan, a reduction on their initial proposal but still far higher than Republicans are likely to agree to.
While investors wait for Congress to get its act together, they are going to have to weather another rough session for coronavirus headlines, with the UK potentially set to surpass its record daily case numbers reading for the 2nd day in a row.
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