Though still not positive, Europe’s losses eased as lunchtime approached – and with it the prospect of a decent US open.
With its miners all falling between 2% and 3%, ITV (LON:ITV) struggling with a 6.5% decline and Taylor Wimpey (LON:TW) still down 2% (admittedly an improvement on its initial performance) there wasn’t a lot for the FTSE to be happy about this Wednesday. That the pound was in an equally bad mood, dipping 0.2% against the dollar and 0.1% against the euro, arguably helped the index a tad, however, allowing it to cut its early fall by a third to around 20 points.
The eurozone indices, meanwhile, maintained a mild decline. The DAX slipped 0.2%, with the CAC falling 0.2%, both saved from any larger losses by the euro tickling a fresh 6 week low against the greenback.
Turning to this afternoon and the Dow Jones might just be able to lift Europe out of the red. The index took a 300 point hit following Jerome Powell’s hawkish address to Congress; however, it’s still roughly closer to January’s all-time highs than February’s recent lows, and is looking like it won’t continue yesterday’s losses this Wednesday.
How it does perform may be down to the state of the second estimate Q4 GDP reading from the US. Analysts are expecting the number to be revised from 2.6% to 2.5% at the annualised rate, news that, if accurate, might take the shine off the dollar and give the Dow a bit more room to breathe.
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