FTSE 100 and European markets lower as markets hold breath for budget

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The FTSE 100 and European markets were lower on Wednesday morning ahead of Labour's first budget.

The slew of policy announcements due from the UK's first woman chancellor Rachel Reeves will set the tone for markets in London on Wednesday, as the government attempts to show how it can balance the ￡22bn 'black hole' in public finances.

Read more: When is the 2024 budget? Everything you need to know

  • The FTSE 100 (^FTSE) fell 0.6% by noon, while the more domestically-focused FTSE 250 (^FTMC) hovered on a flatline.

  • The DAX (^GDAXI) in Germany declined 1.1% as the CAC 40 (^FCHI) was 1.6% lower in Paris.

  • The pan-European STOXX 600 (^STOXX) fell 1.3%.

  • The pound (GBPUSD=X) was 0.4% lower against the dollar, hovering just below the $1.30 mark. The government will be wary of spooking currency traders following former prime minister Liz Truss's disastrous mini-budget two years ago, which sent sterling into a spiral.

US stocks made tepid moves in premarket trade as earnings season churns on. S&P 500 Futures (ES=F) were almost flat, as the Dow (YM=F) fell 0.2% and the tech heavy Nasdaq (NQ=F) was 0.1% higher.

US traders will be looking to the third quarter GDP data released later on for guidance on the health of the economy.

Wednesday trade in Asia

Meanwhile, shares across China lost steam on Wednesday as investors look to the looming US election for more certainty.

The CSI 300 (000914.SS) was 1.3% lower, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng (^HSI) closed down 1.6% and the SSE Composite (000001.SS) was down 0.6%.

The Nikkei (^N225) in Japan bucked the trend, lifted by gains in tech stocks following a raft of megacap earnings.

Overnight in the US

Tech stocks led a mixed day for markets on Tuesday as investors digested new data on job openings and absorbed a fresh wave of earnings, with Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) kicking off the Big Tech giants after the market close.

Read more: UK national living wage to rise to ￡12.21 an hour next year

Shares of Alphabet moved around 4% higher in after-hours trading after the company beat third quarter earnings expectations on both the top and bottom lines while its cloud businesses continued to expand.

The Google parent is the first of five "Magnificent 7" megacaps due to report over the next three days, with the results seen as driving the direction of stocks to kick off November.

Prior to Alphabet's earnings, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) closed Tuesday's session at a record high. The index jumped about 0.8%, buoyed by Broadcom (AVGO), which gained over 4% on reports it plans to work with Microsoft-aligned OpenAI (MSFT) to develop a new artificial intelligence chip.

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