Trade The News | Dec 21, 2012 07:28AM ET
Notes/Observations
Trading today should be dominated by position-squaring and features busy calendar as data released before the holidays
House Speaker Boehner: cancels vote on "Plan B" fiscal cliff bill as he did not have votes to pass; House will adjourn until after Christmas; S&P slumps over 35 handles as a result at one point; embarrassing defeat after conservative Republicans refused to support legislation that would allow taxes to rise on the most affluent households in the country
If you're reading this after 06:11 ET (11:11 GMT) then the Mayan calendar must have been reset but still have triple witching to live through today
Economic Data
Equities
Indices:
European equity markets have tracked the declines in U.S. futures, as the U.S. House of Representatives said no vote would be held on the Republican's Plan B solution for the fiscal cliff until after Christmas, as the measure did not have enough support to pass. The Plan B proposal called for extending the Bush era tax cuts for people with incomes under $1M. In the past, President Obama had threatened to veto the Republican proposal. Broad losses have been seen in the banking sector and underperformers include Barclays, Commerzbank, Credit Agricole, Deutsche Bank and UBS. Also, resource related companies are trading lower, amid the recent declines in commodity prices.
UK Movers [BAE Systems -2.2% (confirmed £2.5B contract with Oman), William Hill (to acquire units from Sportingbet); Aviva +1% (to sell USA unit for $1.8B)]
Germany Movers [Deutsche Bank -2.4% (broad weakness in banking sector, concerns related litigation matters) Air Berlin -2.1% (emergency landing in Thailand); SMA Solar +4.5% (Chinese acquisition), Infineon +1% (broker upgrade)]
France Movers [ADP -6% (reduced 2015 targets), Peugeot -2.7% (EU officials to review terms of aid package)]
Dutch Movers [ArcelorMittal -3% ($4.3B impairment charge related to European business)]
Italy Movers [Fiat -2% (renewed capital raise concerns)]
Switzerland Movers [Holcim -1.9% (broad weakness in cement firms), Panalpina -1.2% (impairment charge)]
Belgium Movers [TiGenix -8% (share placement)]
Finland Movers [Nokia -3% (patent license agreement with RIM, RIM earnings)]
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