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FTSE and European stocks lower as Wall Street rally cools

December 21, 2023


City workers walk past a reflection of St. Paul's Cathedral, top center, as they cross London Bridge heading into the City of London, Friday, Oct. 10, 2008. The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares plunged 7.1 percent in the first half hour of trading on the London Stock Exchange Friday morning, tracking steep declines in Europe, Asia and the U.S.(AP Photo/Sang Tan)

Investors are navigating a sea of red as FTSE and global markets are lower. (SANG TAN, Associated Press)

The FTSE and European stocks opened in the red this Thursday after official figures showed the UK public finances performed worse than expected in November and Wall Street recorded heavy falls.

The FTSE 100 (^FTSE) lost 0.3% to 7,694 points at the open, while in Paris the CAC 40 (^FCHI) slipped 0.4% to 7,556 points. In Germany, the DAX (^GDAXI fell 0.4% to 16,671. Europe’s Stoxx 600 (^STOXX) retreated 0.4%.

Across the pond, US stocks slipped on Wednesday, as a record-setting rally took a breather after a string of gains over the past week.

Read more: The most searched companies of 2023

The Dow Jones (^DJI) lost 1.3% to 37,082 points. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) tumbled 1.5% to 4,698 points and the tech-heavy NASDAQ (^IXIC) retreated 1.5% to 14,777.

The down day marked the S&P’s worst single-day performance since October, while it also snapped a nine-day winning streak for the Nasdaq and Dow Jones.

S&P 500 futures (ES=F), Dow futures (YM=F) and Nasdaq futures (NQ=F) were in the green as trading began in Europe.

In Asia, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 (^N225) fell 1.6% to 33,140 after Toyota (6201.T) announced a recall of a million vehicles, and its subsidiary Daihatsu decided to suspend shipments of all models over rigged safety tests. , The Hang Seng (^HSI) in Hong Kong gained 0.1% to 16,625. The Shanghai Composite (000001.SS) rose 0.6% and closed at 2,918 points.

Read more: The shopping basket items that have changed most in price as inflation drops

The pound’s (GBPUSD=X) slipped against the dollar, with sterling trading at $1.2639. The sterling (GBPEUR=X) was also lower against the euro, trading at €1.1534.

Meanwhile, Brent crude (BZ=F) was higher, trading at almost $80 per barrel amid jitters over global trade disruptions due to tensions in the Middle East.

Live4 updates

  • FTSE 100 lower after US and Asia sell-off

    The FTSE 100 started its penultimate trading day before Christmas with a modest slump after selling in Asia and the US overnight,” said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould. He explained:

    “Disappointing earnings from delivery and logistics outfit FedEx – often seen as an economic bellwether – and a general shift in market focus from when rates will be cut to the underlying health of the economy helped to temper investor optimism.

    “A downturn would be unwelcome news for corporate earnings even if central banks move on rates as the market hopes. For now, stocks are walking a tightrope to a hoped-for soft landing for the economy.

    “However, a higher-than-expected core US inflation reading tomorrow could tip us back into fretting about rates being higher for longer, while any downgrade to America’s final GDP estimate for the third quarter might elevate concerns about the health of the economy.

    “There was bad news on the UK’s public finances as borrowing came in ahead of the anticipated level, though the pressure this put on the pound probably spared the FTSE 100 from greater losses at the open – given the implied boost to the relative value of the index’s dominant overseas earnings.”

  • The most searched companies of 2023

    Yahoo Finance UK rounded up the most searched companies of the year, from ethical fashion retailers to tech stalwarts.

    Here are the businesses that piqued people’s interest throughout 2023, my colleague Lucy Harley-McKeown writes.

    Vinted – Fashion resale app Vinted has been at the centre of a boom in ethical shopping this year as consumers hunt for bargains and more sustainable options to fill wardrobes.

    Temu – Second on the list is Temu, another consumer-focused shopping app which offers mass-produced, discounted products.

    Yandex (YNDX) – Perhaps confusingly, Yandex — primarily a search engine — was one of the trending searches on search engine Google in 2023.

    Shopify (SHOP) — Nasdaq-listed (^IXIC) Shopify has had a good year, with the online shopping platform’s revenue rising 25% year over year to $1.7bn in the third quarter.

    Read the full story here

  • ‘We are taking difficult decisions’, says Treasury Secretary

    Responding to official Government borrowing figures, chief secretary to the Treasury, Laura Trott, said: “It was right to spend billions protecting people during the pandemic and the energy shock triggered by Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, but we cannot leave our children and grandchildren to pick up the tab.

    “That’s why the Prime Minister has made reducing debt a top priority.

    “We are taking difficult decisions in the national interest to control our borrowing needs and improve productivity, so that we deliver the public services people need while keeping inflation down.”

  • Government borrowing higher than expected in November

    Government borrowing was higher than expected last month, as cost-of-living payments to lower income households continued, according to official figures.

    The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said public sector net borrowing stood at £14.3bn in November, £900m less than a year earlier and the fourth-highest November borrowing since monthly records began in 1993.

    The financial year-to-November borrowing figure was the second highest amount on record, totalling £116.4bn, the ONS said.

Watch: Markets in 3 Minutes: Stocks Santa Rally Hits a Speedbump

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