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Today's top story: Bah humbug: City hits out at Barnier..

Published

December 20, 2017

Today's top story: Bah humbug: City hits out at Barnier hard talk on Brexit trade deal

Today's leader: Let's hope for a housing revolution in 2018

Stock markets in European are expected to extend gains this morning after President Donald Trump's sweeping tax reforms moved one step closer to one of the biggest US overhauls in living memory.

The FTSE 100 is projected to open seven points higher at 7,544 by analysts from LCG. Germany's Dax is expected to gain 49 points to 13,264 and France's Cac is seen 12 points up at 5,394.

The US Senate adopted the Republican tax bill paving the way for a second House of Representatives vote, it was announced an hour ago.

Prior to this, trading on Asian markets was comparatively calm. The MSCI Asia Pacific excluding Japan index rose 0.1 per cent and Japan's Nikkei edged only slightly higher.

Global shares have risen in recent weeks by the prospect of Trump's reforms, which are expected to give corporate earnings a boost.

But Asian markets came to the realisation overnight the impact of the cuts may not be felt immediately.

"It will take some time to know whether or not it will have an impact on the economy," IHS Markit principal economist Harumi Taguchi told Reuters.

Sterling strengthened yesterday evening and held onto its gained ground overnight hovering slightly below $1.34.

Analysts from LCG explained yesterday's jump was "following a phone call between Prime Minister Theresa May and President Trump, where they both agreed on the importance of a swift post-Brexit bilateral trade deal".