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Money:

Bank of England expected to hold interest rates

Investors predict MPC will maintain interest at 5.25% when it meets on Thursday.

Morning MoneyBeat Europe: The Bull Run Keeps Going, Worries Can Wait, Apparently

The Wall Street Journal
Updated

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Good Morning Europe

The bull run engendered by Wednesday's Federal Reserve policy statement is still going, and, after further surges on Wall Street and across Asia, is unlikely to be halted in Europe Friday.

There are worries of course- over oil and the Russian economy, over the future shape of Greece's government and over Europe's enduringly weak growth and inflation numbers. However, barring any obvious mishap, stock markets seem to have decided that they can all wait until 2015.

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Forecasters are calling for early gains of between 50 and 90 points for Europe's big three mainboards.

Market Snapshot: U.S. markets (Thursday close) DJIA up 2.4%, Nasdaq up 2.2%, S&P 500 up 2.4%. Nikkei (Friday close) up 2.4%. Brent crude up 16 cents at $59.43, Nymex crude up 73 cents at $54.84. Gold up $3.70 at $1198.70. EUR/USD $1.2284, USD/JPY ¥119.38. 10 year Treasury yield 2.23%, Bund 0.62%, Gilt 1.87%.

Watch For: Italian industrial orders, UK public sector borrowing.

What you missed on MoneyBeat:

Get Ahead of the Trend: Ten Market Disruptors for 2015: It’s time to channel your inner Silicon Valley entrepreneur. S&P Capital IQ’s Michael Thompson and a team of analysts at the firm outlined ten “disruptors” for 2015, one for each sector of the S&P 500.

Morgan Stanley Analysts Try GoPro, Discover Their Lives Are Boring: Morgan Stanley has a warning for Wall Street: be careful before you GoPro. You might not be stoked with the results.

Carrefour Makes Brazil Bet To Get Local, Stay Global: Going local to stay global. It’s a challenge confronting many a multinational corporation. French supermarket giant Carrefour hopes that it has at last nailed the problem in Brazil, its most important market outside France where it has sometimes struggled to gain a sure footing.

Carlyle’s David Rubenstein Raps His Holiday Greeting (Hat-Tip: Dr Dre): Carlyle Group’s David Rubenstein may be giving the Oracle from Omaha a run for his money in the holiday greeting department.

Why Has Switzerland Switched Rates to Negative? – The Short Answer: The Swiss National Bank on Thursday said it will install a negative rate on certain deposits, becoming the latest central bank in Europe to take this step. So how will it work? Here’s the short answer.

Switzerland’s Big Banks Closely Eye Negative Rate Move: Switzerland’s big banks, UBS and Credit Suisse, are carefully assessing the Swiss central bank’s move to introduce a negative interest rate on deposits—which could cause each of the lenders to take a direct financial hit.

A Swiss Surprise: Negative Rates. Here’s What the Street Thinks: The Swiss National Bank surprised markets Thursday by introducing negative interest rates on deposits. It also reaffirmed its commitment to its cap on the value of the Swiss franc against the euro, prompting the Swiss currency to falling to its lowest level for just over two months.

Putin’s News Conference – At A Glance: As Russia faces financial troubles and pressure from the West over its intervention in Ukraine, here are five things President Vladimir Putin spoke about at his annual news conference Thursday.

Vladimir Putin Seeks to Calm Fears. Strategists React : Russia’s president Vladimir Putin is holding his annual press conference in front of 1,200 journalists. While the President is expected to talk for a few hours – he notched up four last year – Mr. Putin already managed to touch upon sensitive issues such as the surprise rate hike by the central bank Monday and proposals to encourage corporate’s revenue conversion into rubles.

Overnight Action:

Putin Strikes Harsh Tone With West : Vladimir Putin accused the West of trying to subdue and disarm Russia at a defiant annual news conference, and blamed “external factors” for the collapse of Russia’s currency and stock market.

Luxembourg Agrees to Share Details of Corporate Tax Deals : The nations has been under scrutiny for its tax breaks to multinationals.

How a Memo Cost Big Banks $37 Billion : A government lawyer’s discovery of a warning to J.P. Morgan officials about shaky mortgages jump-started the Justice Department’s probe of financial-crisis wrongdoing.

Morning MoneyBeat Europe will be on hiatus from Monday, Dec. 22 through Friday, Dec. 26. You can sign up for our U.S. newsletter, delivered all weekdays except Dec. 25 and Jan. 1, here http://on.wsj.com/MoneyBeatUSSignup