© Insider Narrative. All Rights Reserved.
Finance

FTSE 100 LIVE: Stocks steady as investors look ahead to Fed interest rate decision

This post was originally published on this site.

The FTSE 100 (^FTSE) hovered around the flatline on Monday morning, as investors looked ahead to the US Federal Reserve’s last interest rate decision of the year.

The Fed is widely expected to announce a quarter-point rate cut on Wednesday, lowering the federal funds target range to 3.5% to 3.75%.

Data released on Friday showed the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation cooled slightly, adding to bets of a rate cut. The core September personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index reading, which was delayed due to the US government shutdown, showed 2.8% growth on an annual basis, which was slightly lower than 2.9% in August.

Investors will be listening closely to comments from Fed chair Jerome Powell on Wednesday for any clues on the central bank’s rate cutting path for the year ahead.

Derren Nathan, head of equity research at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “Anything other than a quarter-point cut to Fed Funds Rates on Wednesday will come as a big surprise but cast your eyes forward 12 months and the waters become much muddier.”

Stocks: Create your watchlist and portfolio

“Markets see two further quarter point cuts as the most likely outcome but the probability of a dovish third cut, or just a hawkish single cut isn’t that far behind,” he said. “It’s commentary for 2026 and beyond that’s likely to be the key focus for markets.”

In addition to the Fed’s interest rate decision, investors will also be keeping an eye on UK economic growth data for October, due out on Friday.

  • London’s premier index was steady at around 9,674 points in early trading on Monday.

  • Germany’s DAX (^GDAXI) gained 0.1%.

  • In France, the CAC 40 (^FCHI) declined 0.3%.

  • The pan-European STOXX 600 (^STOXX) hovered around the flatline.

  • The pound was flat against the dollar (GBPUSD=X), trading at $1.3326 at the time of writing.

  • Over in the US, contracts on the S&P 500 (ES=F) edged up 0.2%, while those on the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (NQ=F) rose roughly 0.3%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures (YM=F) hovered above the flatline.

LIVE 2 updates

  • Vicky McKeever

    China’s trade surplus tops $1tn

    China’s trade surplus reached $1.08tn over the first 11 months of the year, which was 22.1% higher than the same period last year, according to data released on Monday.

    Exports saw than a bigger-than-expected rebound in November, growing 5.9% year-on-year, versus -1.1% in October.

    Lynn Song, chief economist for Greater China at ING, said: “By destination, exports to the US continued to slow in November, despite the trade truce.”

    “November exports to the US were down -28.6% YoY, a three-month low, bringing the year-to-date growth to -18.9% YoY,” he said. “It’s likely that November exports have yet to fully reflect the tariff cut, which should feed through in the coming months.”

  • Vicky McKeever

    Good morning!

    Hello from London. Vicky McKeever here, gearing up to bring you another day of markets and business news.

    Let’s get to it.

Read more:

Download the Yahoo Finance app, available for Apple and Android.