European stocks weaker as investors wait Fed



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Monday 12:45 GMT

What do you want to know

  • Weaker European equities
  • Sterling stays above $ 1.31
  • Rise in Rusal shares as US Treasury lifts sanctions

Overall view

European stock markets were less buoyant on Monday as investors prepared for a series of events, including the Federal Reserve's first monetary policy meeting since the market turmoil in December.

Investors will look for signs that the US central bank is willing to exercise patience to gauge the state of the US economy and determine whether to raise interest rates again. The Italian benchmark, the FTSE MIB, the French CAC 40 and the London FTSE 100 were all around 0.4% lower in the early afternoon. Futures contracts suggest that the S & P 500 will open lower by a similar amount on Wall Street.

While the US economic week should be busy, few results are worth publishing Monday.

Elsewhere in Asian equities, the Tokyo Topix closed down 0.7% as public and financial services weakened. Japan Display shares ended down 4.8% after Apple's provider responded to a Japanese media report on its annual earnings forecast, recognizing that prospects for its current fiscal year were "tough."

Hot topic

The political events led to significant movements during the trading day: the shares of Russian-owned Russian aluminum producer Rusal closed up 9.4% after the sanctions were lifted by the Treasury American on the company previously controlled by the oligarch Oleg Deripaska.

The oil market has kept a close eye on developments in Venezuela, a producer whose production has fallen sharply last year, while the country's political and economic crisis is wreaking havoc.

Brent crude lost 1.6% to 60.68 dollars a barrel, while the US giant West Texas Intermediate lost 1.7% to 52.79 dollars. Australia became the last country to join the United States in supporting Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó as interim president of the main oil-producing country.

Forex and fixed income

It is a moderate start to the week on the forex market with the dollar index measuring the greenback versus a basket of peers standing at 95.84. Although weaker, the pound sterling remains above the $ 1.31 mark as traders and investors wait for the British parliament's vote on Theresa May's final deal on Brexit on Tuesday.

The sovereign bond market has also experienced few tragedies. The 10-year US Treasury yield was little changed at 2.76%.

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