Swing and a miss

‘Wall Street erases gains after antiviral drug disappointment’ – A mixture of disappointing data and reports that a potential antiviral coronavirus drug failed in its first clinical trial drove a reversal in markets late yesterday. A drug developed by California-based Gilead Sciences did not improve patients’ condition according to documents accidentally published by the World Health Organization. (Financial Times)
‘Germany throws weight behind EU recovery fund’ – The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, has committed to a substantial financial contribution to the European Commission’s proposed recovery fund. The aim is to avoid uneven recovery across the EU’s member states once the pandemic has passed. In yesterday’s video conference, leaders failed to agree on the size of the recovery fund and whether it should hand out loans or grants. (Financial Times)

The S&P 500 reversed early morning gains following news of the failed coronavirus drug trial and European equity futures were lower heading into today’s session. The Dollar Index was relatively static, whilst crude oil gained once again and could be set to close out the week not far from where it started.

UK Retail Sales -5.1% vs -0.3% last month

German IFO Business Climate 9.00am

US Core Durable Goods Orders 1.30pm

GBPUSD: 1.2320

GBPEUR: 1.1468

EURUSD: 1.0745