Closing post
Time to wrap up.
Stock markets in Japan and Germany have closed for the year, posting 19% gains on another strong 12 months for equities.
But major bourses are weaker today, as investors worry that inflation may be sticky in 2025, hampering central banks from cutting interest rates.
Britain’s FTSE 100 index is down 51 points or 0.6% in late trading, while the US Dow Jones industrial average has lost 690 points or 1.6% – with Boeing leading the fallers, following the aeroplane crash in South Korea yesterday.
2024 has been tough for the pub industry, with more than 400 sites closing across England and Wales in the last year.
Here’s the rest of today’s news so far:
Chicago’s manufacturing sector contracted more sharply than expected this month, new data shows.
The Chicago Purchasing Managers’ Index has dropped to 36.9, indicating a contraction in the region’s factory sector.
Chicago PMI quite weak pic.twitter.com/yAEcxRQwZ4
— Market Rebellion (@MarketRebels) December 30, 2024
MNI: Chicago PMI plunges for Dec, ending '24 on sour note as over half of respondents saw new orders drop for 1st time since Jun '20 when there were gov't-imposed lockdowns; future sentiment may be rising since Trump's win, but current conditions are still deteriorating fast: pic.twitter.com/O3t513Se71
— E.J. Antoni, Ph.D. (@RealEJAntoni) December 30, 2024
