Today's top story: Airbus loses long-running trade dispute paving way for massive US tariffs
Today's leader: Prepare yourself for a summer of Italian chaos
Wall Street stocks tumbled overnight after expectations of an interest rate hike surged. Demand for US equities fell flat after US 10-year treasury yields moved higher, pushing the dollar to a five-month high.
The Dow Jones closed over 190 points down, the S&P fell 0.6 per cent and the Nasdaq eased 0.8 per cent lower over concerns that an increase in borrowing rates would drive down demand for equities.
"Traders are not looking at the bigger picture right now," said Jasper Lawler from LCG. "The fundamentals say that the economy is strong which is why the Fed could be considering a more aggressive path to hiking; the irony is this is triggering a selling mentality in traders as the era of cheap money appears to be well and truly over."
Asian stocks also slumped over fears that the warming US-North Korea relations had hit a road bump, and as the Japanese economy showed signs of slowing down considerably. The Asia-Pacific MSCI index fell 0.2 per cent as Japan's Nikkei slid 0.4 per cent.
European stocks are looking somewhat better, with fashion giant Burberry expected to report earnings. The FTSE is expected to open three points higher at 7,725, while Germany's DAX is set to open 19 points higher at 12,989, and the French CAC is predicted to open flat at 5,553.
Corporate news
- Burberry – will be hoping to buck the trend of the dwindling retail market when it posts its annual results today
- C & C Group – the manufacturer also has its final results out this morning, and will be hopeful that positive results might halt its falling share price
- National Express Group -the coach operator is posting its first quarter results ahead of its annual general meeting today
Data
- 09.00 – Eurozone CPI year-on-year (April)
- 13.00 – European Central Bank president Mario Draghi to speak
