FTSE 100 and FAANGS in the red as Trump bans US investment in China

• FTSE 100 index sheds 22 points
• US stock indices broadly higher
• Synairgen gets boosts from study results

5.10pm: FTSE fades in afternoon trading

The FTSE 100 slipped 22 points, 0.4%, to 6,136.4, and the FTSE 250 ticked 32 points, 0.2%, lower to 19,270.

“It has been a relatively quiet session today when you take into consideration that aggressive moves that were seen during the week..,” CMC Markets UK analyst David Madden said in a statement. “The health crisis is back at the forefront of traders’ minds given the number of Covid-19 cases in Germany, the UK and Italy. Several major economies in Europe have lockdowns in place and with the ways things are going, extensions could be issued.”

Despite positive vaccine news, Europe is not out of the woods yet, Madden noted.

“In recent years, stock markets have become addicted to monetary easing, and it seems the ECB are going to loosen their policy further next month. The -BioNTech vaccine story is still lingering, but there is now the realisation that even if things go well with respect to regulatory approval, the pandemic will not be resolved quickly.”

In the US, markets were broadly higher. The Dow was up 274 points, 1%, to 29,355.1 at noon ET. The Nasdaq Composite was up 68 points, 0.6%, to 11,778.5, and the S&P 500 gained 31.7 points, 0.9%, to 3,568.5.

Travel stocks continued to ascend on vaccine optimism. () gained 5.5% to $38.87, Inc () picked up 5.6% to $36.30 and Southwest was up 3.8% to $43.52.

3.47pm: FTSE and FAANGS in the red

London’s blue chips are still in line to finish an otherwise positive week on a sour note, in contrast to the rest of their peer Europe and the US.

The Footsie is down 14 points or 0.2% at 6,324.67, which would make for almost a 414-point gain for the week, or bang on 7%.

Doing slightly better, the FTSE 250 is up just over one point at almost 19,304.

With the vaccine bullishness dissipating, and an unclear US election aftermath, markets don’t have much direction.

“European indexes are mixed as investors reduce bullish bets as virus lockdown efforts will likely remain in place throughout the holidays,” said market analyst Edward Moya at Oanda.

Stateside, President Trump’s administration has issued an order barring American investments in Chinese firms owned or controlled by the military.

Wall Street’s major indices are all in the green, though the FAANG stocks are all in the red.

“US stocks are rising as investors anticipate President-elect Biden will have a conciliatory tone with China and on high hopes that any day Moderna’s vaccine trial will match ’s results from earlier in the week,” said Moya.

“The last two months of President Donald Trump’s reign will likely see a wrath of executive orders that will make it difficult for the Biden administration to smoothly implement their initiatives and unwind Trump’s aggressive measures.”

He said Trump’s order on investments in Chinese firms is likely to be the beginning of the latest round of efforts to pressure China. 

“US-China relations are at all-time low and will not see any easy solutions to human rights, spying and IP theft, but a less confrontational approach is welcomed.  China’s delayed congratulations to Biden is positive to risk appetite as it signals a complete restart in trade negotiations, climate policies, and support in dealing with Iran and North Korea.”

There was also data showing consumer confidence has taken another hit, according to the index maintained by the University of Michigan, which is down to 77.0 in November from 81.8 a month earlier.

This appears to have been driven by a combination of rising fears about the virus and concerns over the election results, said ’ Andrew Hunter, “although the latter is unlikely to have any notable impact on consumption”.

Current confidence was broadly unchanged, with the headline fall driven by a sharp drop in the expectations index to 71.3, from 79.2,…