In European Equity Markets the pan-European Stoxx 600 closed 0.1 percent lower, with a mix of positive and negative for most sectors. Europe’s telecoms sector were among those to lead the losses Friday, down more than 0.8 percent. Inmarsat, Telecom Italia and Cellnex Telecom were among the worst performers. Delivery Hero jumped 10 percent after Netherlands-based Takeaway.com announced it would buy the German unit of the world’s biggest online delivery firm for around 930 million euros ($1.07 billion).
In Currency Markets the U.S. dollar gained on Friday, reversing most of its losses after the Federal Reserve flagged fewer interest rate hikes earlier this week, as investors sought the currency’s safety amid persistent equity market volatility and a possible U.S. government shutdown. The safe-haven yen also gained versus the dollar, benefiting from the overall market anxiety. The Japanese currency was on track to post its largest weekly percentage rise against the greenback in 10 months. The euro, the largest component of the dollar index, fell 0.4 percent versus the dollar to $1.1392.
In Commodities Markets oil prices fell to their lowest since the third quarter of 2017 on Friday, heading for losses of 11 percent in a week, as global oversupply kept buyers away from the market ahead of the long festive break. Brent crude fell $1.56 to a low of $52.79 a barrel, its weakest since September 2017, before rallying to trade around $53.35, down 11.5 percent on the week, by 1435 GMT. U.S. light crude oil was down 30 cents at $45.28, on course for a decline of 11.0 percent for the week.
In US Equity Markets main indexes gave up most of their earlier gains in volatile trading on Friday that traders blamed on the expiration of stock futures and options, with only the defensive sectors of the market staying consistently higher, highlighting concerns of slowing growth. The S&P 500 was up 0.01 percent, at 2,467.65 and the Nasdaq Composite was down 0.67 percent, at 6,484.79. A boost to the Dow Industrials and S&P 500 came from Nike Inc, which jumped 8.3 percent after the company’s quarterly results beat Wall Street estimates on strength in North America.
In Bond Markets U.S. Treasuries were steady on Friday as U.S. President Donald Trump threatened a “very long” government shutdown and investors were reluctant to hold risky assets before the weekend. Trump called on the Senate to pass spending legislation that includes his $5 billion demand for border wall funding. Benchmark 10-year yields were steady on the day to yield 2.792 percent. The yields fell to a more than eight-month low of 2.748 percent on Thursday and have fallen from a seven-year high of 3.261 percent on Oct. 9.