Today’s Stock Exchange: Dow, S&P Live Updates for December 18, 2020

European stocks fluctuated as traders watched the latest attempt by UK and EU negotiators to break a free trade deal from the stalled Brexit talks. The pound has fallen.

Miners and telecommunications companies led the gains in the Stoxx Europe 600 Index, as retail and travel companies fell. Euro fell as both parties to Brexit talks warned progress had hit another snag with a few hours left to strike a deal. Shares of CD Projekt SA fell 20% after Sony pulled the company’s Cyberpunk 2077 video game from its PlayStation Store.

Futures on the S&P 500 stabilized after the index closed at record highs on Thursday, as Congress works to secure a pandemic relief deal. Meanwhile, the United States is preparing for blacklist Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. and dozens of other Chinese companies, Reuters reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

The dollar rose, benefiting from the decline of other currencies in the Group of 10, while copper topped $ 8,000 per tonne for the first time in more than seven years amid rising demand and bottlenecks. supply constriction.

As time is running out to renew aid in the event of a pandemic, Washington officials are under pressure to resolve their differences after months of stalemate amid signs of a failing economic recovery. A bipartisan US stimulus deal “appears to be within reach,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said, but will likely require work over the weekend to get through Congress.

The stimulus package “should be a sufficient bridge,” Steven Wieting, global investment strategist at Citigroup Private Bank, told Bloomberg TV. “That, with preparation for this Covid emergency at this stage and the fact that the vaccines are ahead by the middle of the year, would certainly be enough to get us through this period of weakness.”

Here are the main market movements:

Stocks

• Futures on the S&P 500 index climbed 0.1% at 9:26 a.m. London time.
• The Stoxx Europe 600 index rose 0.2%.
• The MSCI Asia Pacific index fell 0.5%.
• The MSCI Emerging Markets Index fell 0.3%.

Currencies

• The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.2%.
• The euro fell 0.1% to $ 1.2255.
• The British pound fell 0.5% to $ 1.352.
• The onshore yuan weakened 0.1% to 6.541 per dollar.
• The Japanese yen weakened 0.4% to 103.54 per dollar.

Obligations

• The yield on 10-year Treasuries was unchanged at 0.93%.
• The yield on two-year Treasury bills fell by less than a basis point to 0.12%.
• Germany’s 10-year yield rose one basis point to -0.56%.
• Japan’s 10-year yield fell less than a basis point to 0.01%.
• The UK 10-year yield fell two basis points to 0.271%.

Basic products

• West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.1% to $ 48.29 a barrel.
• Brent dipped 0.2% to $ 51.38 a barrel.
• Gold fell 0.3% to $ 1,880.16 an ounce.