With the US off for Columbus Day, it might be a pretty quiet start to the week for the European markets.
The big news over the weekend is that Nancy Pelosi has rejected the White House’s improved offer of $1.8 trillion in stimulus – above the $1.6 trillion offered previously, and far beyond the $1 trillion cap Republicans are seeking, but still below the $2.2 trillion package House Democrats passed. Pelosi described the process as ‘one step forward, two steps back’ and that the proposal was insufficient on ‘how we honour our workers, crush the virus and put money in the pockets of workers’.
What is perhaps crucial for the markets, however, is that the Democrats and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin are back at the table, after Trump had halted talks when he returned from hospital last week. The proximity of the election – and the view of Republican senators that the rejected White House offer was already excessive – still means it is perhaps unlikely that a deal will get done any time soon, but it is nevertheless an improvement on what had appeared to be the complete nixing of negotiations.
This led to the most meagre of gains this Monday, with the Eurozone’s DAX and CAC rising 0.2% and 0.1% respectively.
The FTSE, meanwhile, was down 10 or so points, retreating thanks to some Brent Crude-led losses in its oil sector, with BP (LON:BP) slipping 1.8% and Shell (LON:RDSa) falling 1.6%. In contrast the FTSE 250 was up 0.6%, despite some dire warnings about Britain’s total jobless total in the run-up to Christmas.
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