Euro Stock Market Weakened as Investors Await on Tariff News

LONDON, U.K. – European trading session on Monday wasn’t very optimistic for euro markets. The stocks recorded declines as market players await on the possibility of more Washington-imposed tariffs on Chinese imports on December 15 as well as the ongoing discussions to end trade disputes between the US and China.

Previous reports said that a Chinese official voiced out about Beijing being hopeful to have a prompt settlement for the trade war with the US as another tariff hike on Chinese imports worth around $160 billion is expected to take effect in a couple of days. On Friday, China has also announced that it is going by with a promise to end the punitive tariffs on American imports, particularly the pork and beef goods.

The CAC 40 index in France slipped midday trading by around 0.4% towards 5,850, while the FTSE 100 index in Britain also dropped by 0.1% towards 7,232. The DAX index in Germany also traded lower during the day, dropping by 0.2% towards 13,145.

Elsewhere in the market, the US shares are looking for moderate drops during the trading session on Wednesday. The S&P 500 and Dow Jones futures were already seen trading 0.1% lower.

In Asia, stocks were modestly high for the day. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index in Japan edged higher by around 0.3% to 23,430.70, following the 1.8% expansion in the country’s economy from July to September. The latest growth number was modestly higher compared to the previous 0.2% growth reported earlier.

The S&P/ASX 200 index in Australia also advanced by 0.3% towards 6,730.00, with the Kospi index in South Korea also added 0.3% towards 2,088.65. The Shanghai Composite index also recorded a 0.1% increase to 2,914.48, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was very little changed throughout the day.

Most of the recent gains in the market followed the strong November US jobs report on Friday, which boosted market players into a buying mood.

Based on the reports from the Labor Department, around 266,000 job positions were added, which was well above the 184,000 new positions originally predicted. Although the previous week ended strong for the US market with the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing with a 30-points advance on Friday and mostly flat for the S&P 500 index as it pares losses, Wednesday isn’t looking very optimistic of major US indexes.

Most of the market also continues to wait on key events, the Fed meeting scheduled for today, the UK elections later in the week, and the upcoming deadline of the tariff hike on Chinese goods.