Even the Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) glow emanating off of Whitbread (LON:WTB) couldn’t prevent the FTSE sliding further below 7500 on Friday.
Down half a percent, the UK index hit its worst intraday level for more than a fortnight, and is on track for a 4 month low close. What’s worrying is that things could be a lot worse, the FTSE preventing from matching the losses seen in the Eurozone by Whitbread’s Costa Coffee-offloading 16% surge.
The DAX and CAC progressively got worse as Friday rumbled on; the former is a smidge above 12350 after shedding 135 points, while the latter is back at 5400 having fallen 1.3%. The main issue, as is so often the case, seems to be Donald Trump, namely the fact the sabre-rattling President rejected an offer from the European Union to eliminate auto tariffs if the US did the same, claiming the deal was ‘not good enough’.
There had been some hopes the US signing a trade deal with Mexico earlier in the week meant things were perhaps moving in the right direction. However, with reports that Trump is looking to impose additional tariffs on China, his threat to pull the US out of the WTO and the tense, terse situation with both the EU and Canada, the markets are back to fretting about his next move.
Though not quite as bad as its peers in Europe – yet at least – the Dow Jones is still meant to open in the red when the bell rings on Wall Street. The futures are suggesting a 50 point fall, one that would take the Dow back under the 26000 mark it had returned to on Monday.
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