European equities are set to slump on the open tracking an evening sell off in the states on Friday and overnight weakness in Asia. Europe’s initially positive start to Friday already seemed miss placed with some pundits putting it down to Janet Yellen’s optimistic take of the US economy. However, with a rate hike practically assured some time before the end of the year, markets have has to reassess their earlier reasoning, and instead aren’t’ liking the fact that consumer and business are going to get a little tighter in the pocket just in time for Christmas.
Friday was a mixed day of trading in the U.S which saw biotech stocks struggling further while financial companies rallied. The Dow Jones rallied 0.7 percent to close at 16,314. Stocks have had a volatile week with uneasy trading likely to continue as questions over the state of the global economy still linger.
Euro Dollar fell for the most part again on Friday, down over a third of a percent settling under the 1.12 mark. With the Fed likely to raise rates before the end of the year we are now seeing hawkish trading from currency investors.
Gold ended the week on positive ground after retracing from its week highs on Friday. A potential rate hike by the end of the year is hurting gold prices as the stronger dollar becomes a more attractive investment. December Gold prices closed at $1145.60, down 0.7%.
Contributed by Capital Spreads