The Market Close - Europe hits 10 year high despite Brexit uncertainty. - Collins Sarri Statham Investments

Today's Closing Update

U.S. Shares edged higher, as investors focused on corporate earnings and largely brushed off the threat of a U.S. government shutdown.

European shares hit a 10-year high as investors digested strong economic data.

French President Emmanuel Macron said Britain would not gain access to EU markets, including lucrative financial services, unless it paid for them. Speaking at the end of his meeting with UK counterpart Theresa May on Thursday, Macron effectively poured cold water on British hopes that it could protect its vital financial services sector once it left the EU in March 2019. France is keen to grab a slice of the lucrative market after Brexit and Macron put all diplomatic niceties aside when he reminded May there would be “no differentiated access to financial services”.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said many shoppers had shifted spending to November from December to take advantage of Black Friday offers. For 2017 as a whole, the quantity bought increased by 1.9%, which was the lowest annual growth since 2013. The ONS said the longer-term picture was one of slowing growth, with higher prices squeezing people’s spending. Inflation has been outstripping increases in wages, denting the spending power of shoppers.

Ryanair to the employment and tax authorities after the low-cost carrier’s “refusal to cooperate” with inquiries into staff pay and working conditions. Frank Field of the work and pensions committee and Rachel Reeves of the business select committee both wrote to HMRC and the director of labour market enforcement to ask them to look into Ryanair and the recruitment agencies that provide the airline’s cabin crew. Both committees were appealing for more information on reports that cabin crew had been forced to work for the Irish carrier free of charge for some hours, pay for their training and uniforms and take extended periods of unpaid leave, suggesting that agency workers had received less than the UK’s national living wage.

BT Group said the UK’s High Court had rejected its request to change the index it uses to calculate certain pension increases. The company wanted to switch from using the retail prices index, or RPI, to another index. “We are disappointed with the decision and will now consider the judgment in detail in order to decide next steps, including the possibility of an appeal,” BT said.

Amazon has shortened its list of potential host cities for its second headquarters from 238 down to just 20. Amazon, which announced back in September that it was looking to build a second headquarters in North America, kicked off a competition between several US cities and states to see which would offer the most competitive tax cuts and incentives in exchange for the online retailer’s promise to bring as many as 50,000 new “high-paying” jobs to the chosen region.

Oil slid, putting them on course for the biggest weekly falls since October, as a bounce-back in U.S. production outweighed ongoing declines in crude inventories.

Gold rose half a percent as the dollar laboured near a three-year low on heightened fears of a U.S. government shutdown, but the precious metal was still on track for its first weekly drop in six.

Market Close

Market	Index	Change	% Change
UK 100	7,729.1	+28.1	+0.4%
UK 250	20,641.9	-23.2	-0.1%
GER 30	13,432.4	+151.0	+1.1%
FRA 40	5,528.1	+33.3	+0.6%
U.S. 30	25,979.70	-38.11	-0.2%
U.S. 500	2,801.2	+3.2	+0.1%
OIL (BRENT)	68.55	-0.76	-1.1%
GOLD	1,333.69	+6.66	+0.5%

UK Risers & Fallers

Company	Price	Change	% Change
Easyjet	1584.5	+71.5	+4.7%
Allied Mind	161.2	+6.2	+3.9%
IHG	4928	+124	+2.6%
Dignity	961	-954	-49.8%
Kingfisher	336.1	-7.9	-2.3%
Next	4898	-82	-1.7%