Stock Markets

European stock markets today are trading in a downtrend

Published

2 years ago

November 3, 2022

European stock markets are declining today as traders assess November Federal Reserve (Fed) meeting results and quarterly reports from European companies.

European stock markets doing today — what’s going on?

The Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 75 basis points in an expected move to a range of 3.75-4% per year. It was raised by such an amount at the end of the fourth meeting in a row. Now the rate is at its highest level since January 2008.

At the same time, the U.S. Central Bank pointed to the possibility of slowing the rate hike in the future. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said at a news conference after the meeting that this issue is likely to be discussed at the December meeting or early next year. However, he said that it was too early to talk about a pause in the rate hike. Also, Powell said that its cap would be higher than previously expected.

The Bank of England is also meeting this week and the results will be announced at 15:00 Moscow time on Thursday. Experts expect the British Central Bank to raise the prime rate by 75 bps. — to 3%. The Bank of England has not raised the rate by more than 50 basis points since 1989, notes the Financial Times.

The number of unemployed in Spain decreased by 27,027 thousand in October compared to a month earlier and came to 2.915 million people, which was the lowest indicator since October 2008, according to official data. Analysts had expected the number of unemployed to rise by 42,000, according to Trading Economics.

The composite index of the region’s largest companies, Stoxx Europe 600, had decreased 0.9% to 409.69 points by 12:11 Moscow time.

The British FTSE 100 index was down 0.2%, the German DAX was down 0.6%, the French CAC 40 was down 0.66%, the Spanish IBEX 35 was down 1.3% and the Italian FTSE MIB was down 0.5%.

Earlier, we reported that U.S. stock markets declined on Tuesday after strong statistical data.

Stock Markets

Hamas says it has approved Israeli list of 34 hostages for possible deal

Published

18 hours ago

January 6, 2025

CAIRO (Reuters) – Palestinian militant group Hamas has approved a list of 34 hostages presented by Israel to be exchanged in a possible ceasefire deal, a group official told Reuters on Sunday.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, also reiterated that any deal is contingent upon reaching an agreement on an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a permanent ceasefire.

Stock Markets

Israeli strikes kill 14 people in Gaza, mediators strive for a truce deal

Published

18 hours ago

January 6, 2025

By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Dawoud Abu Alkas

CAIRO/GAZA (Reuters) -Israeli airstrikes killed at least 14 Palestinians in three separate attacks in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, taking the weekend death toll to 102, Palestinian medics said, as U.S. and Arab mediators stepped up efforts to conclude a ceasefire deal.

Health officials said an Israeli airstrike killed five people in a house in the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza, while another airstrike killed four others in Jabalia in the northern edge of the enclave, where Israeli forces have been operating for three months.

Later on Sunday, an Israeli airstrike hit a police station in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, killing five people, medics said. It was not immediately clear if all the dead were policemen.

The Israeli military said it struck Hamas militants operating from the humanitarian area in Khan Younis, and an Islamic Jihad militant who carried out attacks from the humanitarian area in Dier al-Balah.

Earlier on Sunday, the health ministry of Hamas-run Gaza said Israeli strikes across the territory had killed at least 88 Palestinians and wounded more than 200 others in the past 24 hours.

In Gaza City’s Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood, relatives and neighbours rushed to the Zuhd family’s house, which was struck by an Israeli airstrike late on Saturday, killing seven people, medics said. The search continued on Sunday morning for four others believed to be trapped under the rubble.

A hand belonging to one of the dead could be seen amongst the ruins, with the rest of his body buried under collapsed masonry. Three men removed dirt with their bare hands to retrieve bodies and search for possible survivors.

“Three young men, the son’s wife, and three children are still here. We retrieved this cousin of mine. Another cousin has been martyred and is now in the hospital. Approximately 11 people have been martyred here,” Ammar Zuhd, a relative, told Reuters.

ISRAEL SAYS DOZENS OF HAMAS MILITANTS KILLED

The Israeli military said in a statement on Sunday that its forces had attacked more than 100 targets across Gaza over the weekend, killing dozens of Hamas militants. It said it had also destroyed rocket launching sites that had been used to wage attacks on Israel in recent days.

Later on Sunday, it said it killed an Islamic Jihad militant last week in the Jabaliya area of northern Gaza. Sa’ed Saeed Zaki Dahnoun participated in the Oct. 7 cross-border attack on Israel, the military said.

A renewed push is underway to reach a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas, and return Israeli hostages who were taken to Gaza, before U.S. President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20.

Israeli negotiators were dispatched on Friday to resume talks in Doha brokered by Qatari and Egyptian mediators, while U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration, which is helping to mediate, urged Hamas to agree to a deal.

Hamas said it was committed to reaching an agreement as soon as possible, but it was unclear how close the two sides were.

Israel launched its assault on Gaza in response to an Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas militants on communities in southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel’s military campaign, with the stated goal of eradicating Hamas, has leveled swathes of the enclave, driving most people from their homes, and has killed 45,805 Palestinians, according to the Gaza health ministry.

(Reporting and writing by Nidal al-Mughrabi. Additional reporting by Dawoud Abu Alkas in Gaza and Maytaal Angel in Jerusalem; Editing by Sharon Singleton and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)

Stock Markets

Massive winter storm to clobber U.S. from Plains to East Coast

Published

18 hours ago

January 6, 2025

By Rich McKay

(Reuters) – Millions of Americans from the Plains to the East Coast faced the threat of blizzards, heavy snow, treacherous ice and freezing rain through Monday, the National Weather Service said on Saturday.

Governors in Kentucky and Virginia declared states of emergency ahead of the winter storm.

“The storm is still taking shape,” meteorologist Rich Bann of the NWS’s Weather Prediction Center said Saturday evening. “But this thing has multiple hazards from heavy snows in the Plains to significant icing covering roads farther south.”

He added that more than 60 million people in the U.S. were affected by winter weather warnings, watches or advisories this weekend.

A swath extending eastward from Nebraska and Kansas through Ohio, Indiana, southwestern Pennsylvania and northwestern Virginia could see from 1 inch (2.54 cm) to 1 foot (30 cm) of snow. Ice could knock out power lines and cause widespread outages.

A wintry mess of freezing rain and ice will hit southern Missouri, Kentucky and Tennessee on Sunday, Bann said, likely making roads hazardous and downing power lines.

“It’ll be nearly impossible to drive in some areas,” he said.

The Kansas City International Airport in Missouri closed temporarily on Saturday afternoon due to rapid ice accumulation, officials said on social media.

Bann said that the storm should move past the East Coast and into the Atlantic Ocean by late on Monday, but a new blast of Arctic air will bring frigid cold to the eastern two-thirds of the U.S. by the middle of next week.