Brent Crude’s slide is dominating trading this morning, drawing investor focus from the upcoming Queen’s Speech.
Spreadex Analyst, Connor Campbell commented “The FTSE fell half a percent after the bell, helping to erase another chunk of its recent 7550-tickling growth. The index’s woes largely stem from Brent Crude, which prompted a further 1% decline from both BP and Shell after hitting $45.50, the black stuff’s worst price since November 2016.”
The Queen’s speech, officially opening parliament following the election, “is set to outline a legislative programme much changed from the Tory election manifesto” suggests Campbell, “with more controversial policies, like grammar schools and social care cuts, given the axe.”
“What does end up in the speech is going to be of great interest to the markets, namely what it says about Brexit and whether it will allow May to form a government.”
“The speech outlining an extended 2-year blueprint for lawmakers through to Brexit” added Mike van Dulken “is expected to focus on the UK’s divorce from the EU as well as how we can build a better society via the opportunities it may offer.”
Meanwhile, in the Eurozone indices were even more bearish than the FTSE. Connor Campbell commented “The CAC plunged 1.3%, meaning it has lost all of the Macron-inspired growth it saw at the start of the week, while the DAX fell by 100 points to hit 12730, almost 200 points away from Tuesday’s intraday all-time high.”
Over in the US, equity markets fell from record highs on Wednesday as Energy stocks bared the brunt of the Crude Oil sell-off.
Accendo Markets Analyst, Mike van Dulken noted “Despite notching an early intraday high, the Dow Jones soon pared gains to close 0.3% lower as General Electric weighed, while the S&P500’s Energy sector fell by 1.3% to drag the index 0.7% lower. The Nasdaq underperformed, closing 0.8% lower as the index failed to overcome emerging resistance.”
