Markets Today: CME Glitch Halts Trading, German Retail Sales Fall, Ukraine-Russia in Focus, FTSE 100 Back Above 100-day MA
European stock prices barely changed on Friday.
Despite this, they are on track to have their best week in two months and are set for a fifth straight month of gains, mainly because investors are increasingly betting that the US will cut interest rates soon. Investors avoided making large trades as they headed into the weekend, especially with the U.S. stock market only open for a half-day.
Trading was further complicated by a technical failure at the CME Group, which stopped trading on its key currency platform and on futures markets for things like stocks, effectively freezing several major stock indexes as brokers withdrew their products.
The main European stock index, the STOXX 600, slipped slightly by 0.1%, but it is still heading for its longest streak of monthly wins since March 2024.
Within the index, Energy stocks performed the best, rising 0.3% because oil prices went up. Travel and leisure stocks were the worst performers this morning, dropping 0.7%. In company news,
Delivery Hero shares jumped 8.75% after a report suggested that investors are pressuring the management to consider selling the company or breaking up parts of the business.
On the FX front, the US dollar is currently set for its biggest weekly drop since late July. This weakness is because traders are increasingly expecting the Federal Reserve to further lower interest rates next month. The market was also quieter than usual because of the US Thanksgiving holiday.
The dollar index, which tracks the dollar’s value against six other major currencies, was up slightly by 0.1% at 99.624, recovering a bit after five days of losses.
In Asia, the Japanese yen saw its value move up and down after a recent period of decline; it was last 0.1% weaker at 156.385 yen as strong job market and inflation data suggested that Japan might tighten its monetary policy. The euro was stable at 1.1600.
The British pound was 0.1% weaker at $1.323 on the day, but it is still heading for its best weekly performance since early August, following the UK Finance Minister’s plan to raise £26 billion ($34 billion) in taxes.
The Australian dollar gained slightly, up 0.1% at $0.6536. Finally, the offshore Chinese yuan was steady at 7.074 yuan per US dollar and is on track for its best monthly gain since August.
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