European equity markets have struggled in early trading ahead of the next meeting of the European Central Bank (ECB) later today.
Although no changes are expected to be made to the central bank’s monetary policy, stockmarkets appear nervous with the EuroFirst 300 index down 0.2 per cent and the Cac 40 index in France slipping 0.4 per cent. Germany’s Dax index is fairly flat with a small move lower of 0.1 per cent, while the FTSE 100 index has slipped 0.3 per cent.
Asian and US markets, however, ended their sessions higher. In the US a boost to corporate earnings, including better than expected results from Microsoft, pushed the S&P 500 index 0.4 per cent higher to 2,173.02, while the Dow Jones index gained 0.2 per cent.
In Japan the Nikkei 225 index moved 0.8 per cent higher and the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong also climbed 0.7 per cent, apparently buoyed by the positive performance in the US.
