The FTSE 100 Futures is trading at 7,532.50  up with +0.14% percent or +10.70 point. The CAC 40 Futures is trading at 6,069.50 up with +0.48% percent or +29.00 point. The DAX Futures is trading at 13,426.30  up with +0.36% percent or +47.70 point. The EURO Stoxx 50 Futures trading at 3,784.00 up with +0.37% percent or +14.00 point.

TODAY’S FACTORS AND EVENTS

Equity markets finished on a mixed note on Wednesday as Iran’s retaliation in its escalating confrontation with the US did not claim the lives of any more American or Iraqi servicemen, with Washington limiting its response to additional economic sanctions.

Overnight, Tehran retaliated against the US overnight for the assassination last week of top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, launching missile strikes from its own soil against two US bases in Iraq in Irbil and Al Asad, the latter of which lay west of Baghdad.

Yet the top-flight index was little changed by the end of trading, up by 0.01% at 7,574.93, alongside a 0.15% dip for sterling to 1.3106 against the Greenback, as it became clear that no US or Iraqi military were killed.

YESTERDAY ACTIVITY

For the day the FTSE 100 closed at 7,574.93  up with 0.014% percent or +1.08  point. France’s CAC  40 closed at 6,031.00 up with +0.31% percent or +18.65 point.Germany’s DAX closed at 13,320.18  up with +0.71% percent or +93.35  point.

WORLD MARKETS

For the day the Dow is trading at 28,745.09 up with +0.56% percent or +161.41 point. The S&P 500 is trading at 3,253.05  up with +0.49% percent or +15.87 point. The Nasdaq Composite is trading at 9,129.24  up with +0.67% percent or +60.66 point.

In other parts of world, Japan’s Nikkei 225 is trading at 23,204.76   with a loss of –1.57% percent or -370.96  point. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is trading at 28,053.09  with a loss of -0.95% percent or –268.97point. China’s Shanghai Composite is trading at 3,066.89  with a loss of –1.22% percent or –37.91  point. India’s BSE Sensex is trading at 40,711.80  with a loss of –0.39% percent or –157.67 point at 12:15 PM.