Thursday, November 21, 2024
Finance Funds Update
Stock Markets

European stocks fall as traders digest budget and await ECB decision

March 7, 2024


FTSE

The FTSE was in the red in London on Thursday morning (I-Wei Huang)

The FTSE 100 (^FTSE) and European stocks were lower on Thursday as traders digested chancellor Jeremy Hunt‘s spring budget, and looked ahead to the latest policy decision from the European Central Bank.

It is widely expected that the ECB they’ll maintain the deposit rate at 4% this afternoon, so the main focus will be on the timing of any future rate cuts, along with the latest macroeconomic projections.

  • London’s benchmark index was 0.2% down in early trade

  • Germany’s DAX (^GDAXI) dipped 0.3% and the CAC (^FCHI) in Paris lost 0.2% during the session

  • The pan-European STOXX 600 (^STOXX) was down 0.1%

  • UK property prices rose for fifth straight month, according to Halifax’s house price index

  • Wall Street is set to open higher as S&P 500 futures (ES=F), Dow futures (YM=F) and Nasdaq futures (NQ=F) were all in the red

Follow along for live updates throughout the day:

Live2 updates

  • Asia and US stocks

    Asian shares were lower overnight, despite Wall Street recovering some losses from the day before after the Federal Reserve chairman’s comments that interest rates will likely fall this year.

    The Nikkei (^N225) slipped 1.2% on the day in Japan, while the Hang Seng (^HSI) fell 1.3% in Hong Kong. The Shanghai Composite (000001.SS) was 0.4% lower by the end of the session.

    It came as Jerome Powell reiterated that cuts to interest rates may be coming this year, but that the Fed needs more data proving that inflation is cooling before it will act.

    The S&P 500 (^GSPC) rose 0.5% to 5,104.76 while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) gained 0.2%, closing at 38,661.05. The Nasdaq composite (^IXIC) ended 0.6% higher at 16,031.54.

  • Coming up…

    Good morning, and welcome back to our blog. Here we will be covering what’s moving markets and happening across the global economy.

    Let’s take a quick look at what’s on the agenda for today:

    • 7am: Trading updates: Aviva, Admiral, ITV

    • 7am: Halifax House Price Index

    • 9am: Resolution Foundation: Assessing the Budget’s economic, and electoral, impact

    • 10.30am: Institute for Fiscal Studies presents its Budget analysis

    • 12.30pm: Challenger report on US job cuts

    • 1.15pm: European Central Bank interest rate decision

    • 1.30pm: US Initial Jobless Claims

    • 1.45pm: European Central Bank press conference

Watch: How does inflation affect interest rates?

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