European stocks fluctuated as traders watched the latest effort by UK and EU negotiators to pull a free trade deal out of stalled Brexit talks. The pound fell.
Miners and telecom companies led to a rise in the Stoxx Europe 600 Index as retail and travel companies declined. The euro fell as both sides in Brexit talks warned that progress had been made another catch with just a few hours left to find a deal. CD Projekt SA’s share plummeted a whopping 20% after Sony removed the company’s video game Cyberpunk 2077 from PlayStation Store.
Futures on the S&P 500 stabilized after the index closed at its all-time highs on Thursday as Congress works on a pandemic relief deal. Meanwhile, the US is preparing Blacklist Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. and dozens of other Chinese companies, Reuters reported, citing people familiar with the case.
The dollar rose to benefit from declines in other Group 10 currencies, while copper rose above $ 8,000 per ton for the first time in more than seven years due to rising supply and demand bottlenecks.
With the clock ticking to resume pandemic aid, Washington leaders are under pressure to resolve their differences after months of stalemate amid signs of a faltering economic recovery. A two-pronged US stimulus deal “appears to be near,” said Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, but will likely have to 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 along with preparing for this Covid emergency at this stage and the fact that vaccines are on the way by mid-year, would certainly be enough to get us through this period of weakness.”
These are the main movements in markets:
Shares
- Futures on the S&P 500 Index were up 0.1% as of 9:26 AM London time.
- The Stoxx Europe 600 Index rose 0.2%.
- The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 0.5%.
- The MSCI Emerging Market 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.
Bonds
- The yield on 10-year government bonds remained unchanged at 0.93%.
- The yield on two-year government bonds fell by less than one basis point to 0.12%.
- The German 10-year yield increased by one basis point to -0.56%.
- The Japanese 10-year interest rate fell less than one basis point to 0.01%.
- Britain’s 10-year yield fell two basis points to 0.271%.
Raw materials
- West Texas Intermediate crude oil fell 0.1% to $ 48.29 a barrel.
- Brent crude oil fell 0.2% to $ 51.38 a barrel.
- Gold weakened 0.3% to $ 1,880.16 an ounce.