Markets

European stocks shift higher, S&P500 futures steady

Sterling falls to two-month low as Raab refuses to rule out second lockdown

Photograph: iStock

Wed Sep 23 2020 - 08:37

European stocks bounded higher while S&P 500 futures steadied as equity markets tried to build some upward momentum after the September selloff cut valuations. The dollar extended its rebound.

The Stoxx Europe 600 rose as much as 0.8 per cent in the first few minutes of trading before paring the increase.

Contracts on the Dow Jones Industrial Average also rose, after the S&P 500 Index on Tuesday snapped a four-session losing streak. Nasdaq futures dipped along with Tesla’s shares in the aftermarket after the carmaker’s presentation disappointed investors.

A gauge of the dollar advanced after breaking above a key technical resistance, and sterling dropped to a two-month low after Britain's Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said that a second British lockdown cannot be ruled out.

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Global stocks are still on track for their first monthly drop since March on the lack of another US fiscal stimulus package and an increase in global virus cases that has raised the specter of more lockdowns. Stock and bond strategists are forecasting exceptional volatility ahead as speculation builds that the November 3rd presidential election will be contested.

"This is a massive roller coaster and you just have to hold your stomach," Erin Gibbs, president and chief executive officer of Gibbs Wealth Management, said on Bloomberg TV. "We are most likely to see this continued high volatility" until the U.S. election in November, she said. – Bloomberg

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