While the pound sat on its hands, the European indices managed to draw some energy from the Asian markets to continue their trade optimism-driven rebound.
So far sterling has played the waiting game in regards to the impending vote of no-confidence in Theresa May, the currency effectively unchanged against both the dollar and the euro. If the Prime Minister comes out the other side with her job intact, then it takes one of the many uncertainties that have swirled around UK politics for the last few months off the table. If she loses, on the other hand, then well, the pound’s likely going to have a very unpleasant run-in to Christmas.
As for the FTSE, it was focused on more international affairs. Like its Eurozone peers it continued to celebrate the reports that China is going to cut its US car tariff from 40% to 15%; the UK index added 50 points to tease 6900, while the DAX rose 0.6% and the CAC climbed 1.2%.
The Dow Jones should join in with these gains when the bell rings on Wall Street. The futures have the index rising 200 points, back towards the 24600 mark it failed to close above on Tuesday.
There’s also the small matter of an ECB press conference this afternoon, though whether Mario Draghi can made himself heard about the Brexit and trade war chatter remains to be seen.
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