Stocks slip amid lack of detail on trade deal
After the party, the hangover.
A three-day buying spree on Europe's share markets bumped to a halt on Monday (October 14).
As euphoria over progress in US/China trade talks ebbed away, and as new data confirmed recent damage to China's economy.
A 3.2 per cent drop in exports means the pace of decline in goods sent abroad is picking up.
And - though Chinese officials were upbeat about the negotiations - September imports dropped fast too - by 8.5 per cent year on year.
Major bourses slipped three quarters of a per cent or more into the red.
And the news hit oil: benchmark Brent and US WTI gave back nearly a third of last week's three per cent gains.
For UK shares, there was a double dose of uncertainty.
Despite positive recent noises from the EU and the UK, this week's EU summit looms as a deadline that may not be met for an all-important Brexit deal.
Baader Bank's Robert Halver:
(SOUNDBITE) (German) HEAD OF CAPITAL MARKET ANALYSIS AT BAADER BANK, ROBERT HALVER, SAYING:
"What the current state of things is no one can say. You could throw a coin in the air and see if it comes up heads or tails".
London's mid-cap stocks were down over a per cent.
And sterling - which rocketed higher at the end of last week - lost heavily.
It, and the euro's, pain, though, was the dollar's gain.
The greenback one asset to rise - as investors shed riskier assets in favour of a safer haven.
