The European markets played coy at the start of Monday morning, despite some Asia-lifting comments regarding ‘phase one’ of a US-China trade deal.
A high-level phone call last Friday appears to have yielded progress – especially in the poultry sector, with the US agreeing to import cooked birds from China, while Beijing will allow American chickens back into the country. Beyond that feathery breakthrough, US trade representative Robert Lighthizer claimed that the superpowers were ‘close to finalising some sections’ of the agreement, with this mini-trade deal ‘basically completed’.
Yet this didn’t really move the needle for the European stocks, perhaps unwilling to get their fingers burned after years of one step forwards, two steps back international relations. The DAX added around 25 points, while the CAC was flat at 5710.
The FTSE actually fell 0.4%, its banking stocks all following HSBC (LON:HSBA) lower. The finance giant tumbled 3.5% after posting a ‘not acceptable’ – their words – 18% plunge in Q3 pre-tax profit and a 3% slide in revenue. In response HSBC abandoned some of its key returns targets whilst warning of a ‘challenging’ period ahead.
On a day that will see Boris Johnson’s latest attempt to send Britain to the polls pre-Christmas – he might not succeed this Monday, but the weekend’s reports suggest the country is edging closer to that outcome – the pound was relatively calm, climbing 0.1% against the dollar and sitting unchanged against the euro.
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