The US markets ended the day lower after it emerged that the government may force General Motors into bankruptcy next week. The Dow Jones ended the day 0.18% lower at 8277 whilst the S&P 500 and Nasdaq were off 0.15% and 0.19% at 887 and 1692 respectively.

Earlier in the day the European markets traded slightly higher but it was a fairly muted trading session as we go into the holiday weekend. The FTSE 100 finished 0.46% higher at 4365.29 whilst the CAC 40 and DAX closed 0.33% and 0.37 higher at 3227.97 and 4918.75 respectively.

On the currency markets the GBP/USD gave back some of it’s recent gains earlier on but this didn’t last long and the price has since rebounded back up to 1.5916. The EUR/USD has been steadily rising all day and actually broke through the 1.40 level at one point but it has since fallen back slightly to 1.3995.

The Japanese yen has had a poor day today with both the British pound and the US dollar strengthening against this currency in recent hours. The USD/JPY is now trading at 94.83 whilst the GBP/JPY is ending the week above the critical 150 level at 150.90.

Finally on the commodity markets we’ve seen the price of both gold and crude oil creep higher once more and they are currently trading at $959 and $61.46 respectively.

 

 

Filed under: Market News

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