There’s been some selling seen in stock market this morning, with investors seemingly feeling a little cautious as the US carry out their Midterm elections. Polls suggest the Democrats are on course to take a majority in the House of Representatives and this could mean that a further “Trump bump” is not forthcoming and frustrated by political gridlock. It appears unlikely that the Democrats can take control of the Senate due to 26 of the 35 seats up for re-election already being in their possession so a split Congress is seen as the expected outcome. Given what happened back in 2016 when Trump’s victory shocked the world with an outcome that was contrary to the polls, investors appear to be understandably treading carefully ahead of the vote, in a case of “once bitten twice shy.”
European markets in the red
The results are expected to be clear before the European markets open tomorrow morning and as such, there may also be an air of trepidation this side of the Atlantic in today’s trade with investors wary of waking up to large moves overnight. Most European markets are in the red today with disappointing Italian data from the service sector negating better than expected reading in Germany and Spain. The FTSE is lower by around 20 points and has moved back below the 7100 level to trade near its lowest level in a week.
Pound drops on “no-deal” warning
There’s been a swoosh lower in Sterling this morning after a Northern Irish lawmaker said that a no-deal Brexit is coming. The pound fell across the board after the Chief Whip of Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) took to twitter to make the statement. The DUP are crucial to the Conservative party as it props them up in the coalition and therefore despite only holding a handful of seats in parliament, their support is seen as highly important. Today had been rumoured to be a possible landmark day for PM May who was hopeful to make strides towards reaching a deal, but it seems to have gotten off on the wrong foot.