Yahoo Finance What to Watch: European investors in 'shopping mood' as Davos ends on Brexit downer
Here are the top business, market, and economic stories you should be watching today in the UK, Europe, and abroad:
European markets finally make some movement
European markets are finally breaking some ground after several days of stagnant trading.
Britain’s FTSE (^FTSE), Germany’s DAX (^GDAXI), and France’s CAC (^FCHI) are all trading to the upside. A weaker euro has helped investors make purchasing decisions in Frankfurt, snapping up Volkswagen (VOW.DE) and other auto stocks. The DAX rose over 1%, becoming the top performer in Europe.
Meanwhile, the ECB’s signal that the rate hike will not be implemented as expected this year has boosted investors’ moods across the markets. A rate hike would aim to help battle the global slowdown.
Brexit reality sinks in at the end of Davos
The World Economic Forum ended on a downer today with a number of the business elite voicing serious concerns over Brexit and what it could do for the global economy.
Overnight, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon said that the bank will not invest in Britain as much if there is a no-deal Brexit (also known as a hard Brexit).
“Our headcount in the UK over the last couple of years has not gone down but it hasn’t gone up either — we have added head count you know on the continent,” Solomon said. “But I would say that, over time, if this is resolved in a difficult way or a hard way, it’ll have an impact on where we invest and where we put people.
Even Britain’s own chancellor Philip Hammond admitted “there will be very significant disruption in the short term and a very significant hit to our economy in the medium to long term.”
“So our job is deliver the British people what they believe they were promised in that referendum. To make sure we respect the decision of the referendum but do it in a way that gives them the future prosperity they were promised.”
