Thursday,19 December 2024 08:19:53

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Thursday,19 December 2024 at 08:17

UK and European markets nosedive at the open following their global counterparts lower after the U.S. Federal Reserve signalled yesterday that few rates cuts are on the horizon.

There’s more central bank action in Europe Thursday with monetary policy decisions due from the Bank of England and Norges Bank, the central bank of Norway.

Asia-Pacific stocks and currencies fell amid a broader market sell-off after the U.S. Federal Reserve delivered its third consecutive rate reduction and signalled fewer rate cuts ahead.

Investors assessed the Bank of Japan’s decision to keep its policy rate unchanged at 0.25% for the third straight meeting.

Gold prices jumped more than 1% on short covering after dipping to the lowest in a month earlier in the session.

Oil prices fell in early trading after the U.S. Federal Reserve signalled that it would slow the pace of interest rate cuts in 2025, potentially impacting fuel demand.

In corporate news, John Wood Group said it had won a contract by OMV Petrom for a major project to boost production of sustainable fuel in Southeast Europe.

After successful delivery of the front-end engineering and design, Wood will now deliver engineering, procurement and construction management to install a new bio-hydrotreater unit and relevant storage facilities at the Petrobrazi refinery in Romania. No financial details were disclosed.

Serco said in a trading update that it was anticipating 2024 revenue of £4.8bn, with organic declines moderating in the second half, as well as a 9% increase in underlying operating profit to £270m, driven by improved efficiency and productivity.

It upgraded its free cash flow guidance to £170m, while net debt was forecast to be £145m. For 2025, Serco said it expected stable revenue and resilient profitability despite challenges in its UK and Australian immigration contracts, supported by a strong pipeline of new business opportunities.

Markets

At 8:18

FTSE 100 8,099 (-1.21%)

FTSE 250 20,317 (-1.38%)

DAX 20,028 (-1.07%)

At the close

Dow Jones 42,326 (-2.58%)

S&P 500 5,872 (-2.95%)

NASDAQ 19,392 (-3.56%)

Fixed Income

UK 10-YR YIELD 4.638

Exchange Rates

GBP/USD 1.261

GBP/EUR 1.213

Commodities

Gold $2,615 +1.19%

Brent $72.73 (-0.32%)

Important - No news or research item should be construed as a recommendation to trade. The inclusion of securities within this report does not necessarily imply their suitability for individual portfolios or situations in respect of which further advice should be sought. Information contained in this report has been compiled from sources believed to be reliable but is not warranted to be accurate or complete.