The FTSE dipped by 10 points following news that the UK’s national debt hit a record high thanks to a wider than expected public sector net borrowing deficit in November. This also weighed on sterling, with the pound maintaining its 0.1% and 0.3% losses against the dollar and euro respectively.
Over in the Eurozone the DAX failed to do much of anything, while the CAC fell by nearly half a percent. The main focus in the region was Monte dei Paschi, which saw trading suspended for the umpteenth time in recent weeks thanks to the reveal that the world’s oldest bank could run out of liquidity in the next 4 months.
Looking to this afternoon and, despite the only piece of data on offering being the existing home sales figure (expected to dip to 5.52 million) it could be a pretty exciting US session. The Dow Jones is tantalisingly close to 20000, needing another 50 points to hit that landmark level. It will be interesting to see whether investors have the appetite to send the index to that record this afternoon; yesterday the Dow got within 13 points only to come over all shy and retreat back to the mid-19,900s.
