Investing.com - Here are the top five things you need to know in financial markets on Friday, December 9.
1. Euro recovers from ECB policy decision
EUR/USD was steady at 1.0613, off lows of 1.0588 hit overnight after the European Central Bank said at its monthly policy meeting on Thursday that it would extend its asset purchase program for an additional nine months.
Beyond the program’s scheduled end in March 2017, the central bank said net asset purchases are intended to continue at a monthly pace of €60 billion until the end of December 2017, or beyond, if necessary.
In addition, the ECB left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at a record-low of zero, in line with forecasts.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was steady at 101.15, just off a four-day high of 101.35 hit overnight.
2. European stocks pause, focus turns to Fed
European equity markets opened mixed on Friday, after rallying broadly in the previous session due to the ECB’s decision to extend its stimulus program.
Market participants were now turnning their attention to the Federal Reserve’s upcoming policy meeting next week, amid sustained expectations for a rate hike.
At 11:00 GMT, Germany's DAX was down 0.11% and Italy’s FTSE MIB tumbled 1.06%, while France’s CAC 40 gained 0.27% and London’s FTSE 100 edged up 0.12%.
3. Oil prices climb
Oil prices moved sharply higher on Friday as oil producers were set to meet in Vienna on Saturday to see if non-OPEC countries will agree to cut production in a move to reduce a global supply glut.
The commodity has been mostly supported this week, although doubts remained over whether OPEC’s planned output cut will be enough to reduce the global supply glut.
U.S. crude was trading at $51.31 a barrel at 11:00 GMT, up 47 cents or 0.92% from its last close, while global benchmark Brent futures were at $54.26 a barrel, up 37 cents or 0.69%.
4. Capita cuts costs by replacing staff with robots
Capita Plc (LON:CPI) was one of the worst performers on the FTSE 100, after the outsourcing company announced plans to replace staff with robots in a move to reduce costs.
The company said it needed to cut 2,000 jobs in response to poor trading and that it would use the money it saved to fund investment in automated technology across all of the company’s divisions.
5. U.S. futures point to mixed open on Wall Street
Wall Street futures pointed to a mixed open on Friday, after the major U.S. indices closed at fresh record highs on Thursday, still buoyed by post-election optimism.
The Dow futures were up 15 points or 0.08%, S&P 500 futures dipped 0.50 points or 0.02%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures were up 2.62 points or 0.05%.
The U.S. was scheduled to release preliminary data from the University of Michigan on consumer sentiment at 10.00 am ET.