European shares, pound hit by fading Brexit deal outlook

European shares, pound hit by fading Brexit deal outlook

NEW YORK “” Stock markets and the pound stumbled on Friday after London and Brussels warned that a no-deal Brexit was now a strong possibility.

When closing bells rang, London stocks had fallen by a collective 0.8 per cent, while Frankfurt gave up 1.4 per cent and Paris was off by 0.8 per cent.

Wall Street also had a lackluster day, with both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq retreating even as the Dow eked out a gain.

"We are starting to see the first meaningful de-risking from investors amid concern over Brexit," remarked Stephen Innes, chief global markets strategist at AXI. 

Rabobank analyst Jane Foley added: "In the past few weeks, the market consensus has gone from being reasonably confident that the EU and the UK would agree on a skinny deal to fearing that no deal may now be the mostly likely outcome."

 

'Low expectations' 

 

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen has told the bloc's leaders there were "low expectations" that a post-Brexit trade deal could be struck with Britain, EU sources said. 

The clock was ticking down to the latest deadline, on Sunday, to make a call on prolonging negotiations or give up.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the chances of not reaching a deal