Spreadex Market Update

Dow Jones awaits stimulus news, pound falls as fishing deadlock remains



A feeling of exhaustion spread over the markets like a thin fog Friday, with no sign of a bonafide Santa rally one week before Christmas Day.

The biggest move was by sterling – understandable given Michel Barnier seems insistent that it’s make or break time for the Brexit negotiations. The main sticking – or should that be sticklebacking – point is fishing, with Boris Johnson calling on the EU to break the deadlock, while stating that ‘things are looking difficult. And there’s a gap that needs to be bridged.’

An answer is unlikely to materialise before closing time this Friday, meaning the pound is either going to wake up like Scrooge at the start of A Christmas Carol, or run about like the reformed miser at the end of the book, come Monday morning.

The pound’s losses – which ran to 0.7% against the dollar and half a percent against the euro – failed to prevent the FTSE from slipping into the red, but did keep the index’s own decline at a marginal 0.1%.

In comparison the Dow Jones pulled back from last night’s 30,300-plus record peak, as it awaits its own deadline day deal. Congress still hasn’t been able to pass the vastly-reduced stimulus bill – $908 billion against the $2.2 trillion discussed prior to the election – due to disagreements over whether or not the Federal Reserve should be prevented from using certain emergency lending programs in the future.

Senators ostensibly have until Friday evening to hash out their issues. However, Mitch McConnell, has said that they will keep talking over the weekend and extend the funding deadline if needed.

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