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Global Markets: Broader indexes in the United States were trading in green, with the S&P 500 index traded 26.00 points or 0.82% higher at 3,194.80, Dow Jones Industrial Average Index expanded by 175.20 points or 0.62% and quoting at 28,310.58 and the technology benchmark index Nasdaq Composite traded higher at 8,826.20 and was up by 91.32 points or 1.05% against its previous day close (at the time of writing, before the U.S market close at ET 11:05 AM).
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Global News: On 16th December 2019, the stocks opened in the red, after a report from Bank of America said that the market was preparing for a meltdown in Q1 2020. As per news sources, Boeing is expected to stop the production for its 737 MAX Jet, after which its stock plunged by 3.8 per cent. DuPont stock was up by 3.3 per cent following a report that the company was going to merge two of its business units. Apple stock was marginally on the rise by 0.7 per cent, on the hopes of a trade truce between USA and China. Investors were not happy with the news that WPX energy buying Felix Energy for US $2.5 billion, out of which, US $900 million in cash, post which its stock was down by 1.7 per cent. Pacific Gas & Electric had reportedly plunged by 26 per cent following the California Governor Gavin Newsom rejecting a bankruptcy reorganization plan.
S&P 500 (SPX)
Top Performers*:Â Parker-Hannifin Corp, Affiliated Managers Group Inc and Comerica Inc are top gainers and increased by 1.72%, 1.60% and 1.35% respectively.
Worst Performers*: Progressive Corp, Campbell Soup Co, and Cummins Inc are the top three laggards and decreased by 1.09%, 0.56% and 0.41% respectively.
NASDAQ Composite (IXIC)
Top Performers*: Axsome Therapeutics Inc, Regulus Therapeutics Inc, and China Finance Online Co Ltd are top gainers and increased by 85.67%, 33.20% and 20.84% respectively.
Worst Performers*:Â Gossamer Bio Inc, Genius Brands International Inc and Lianluo Smart Ltd are the top three laggards and decreased by 30.86%, 28.46% and 13.79% respectively.
Top Performing Sectors*: Healthcare (up 0.95%), Telecommunications Services (up 0.94%) and Energy (up 0.87%).
Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI)
Top Performers*:Â Goldman Sachs Group Inc, Cisco Systems Inc, Caterpillar Inc are top gainers and increased by 1.79%, 1.70% and 1.70% respectively.
Worst Performers*: Boeing Co is the top laggard which decreased by 3.73%.
European Markets: The Londonâs broader equity benchmark index FTSE 100 traded at 165.61 points or 2.25% higher at 7,519.05, the FTSE 250 index snapped 412.90 points or 1.92% higher at 21,920.69, and the FTSE All-Share Index ended 88.94 points or 2.17% higher at 4,183.97 respectively. Another European equity benchmark index STOXX 600 ended at 417.75, up by 5.73 points or 1.39 per cent.
European News: In economic news, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), Britain is forecasted to borrow 47.6 billion pounds in the current financial year, up from 29.3 billion at the time of the governmentâs March budget statement. The conservative party that had won the general elections last week had pledged to borrow and increase public spending in order to spur economic growth that had been weakened in the past couple of years now on account of pre-Brexit Jittery. In other news, the Bank of England is to announce its new Governor shortly as the current governor Mark Carney is set to remit office on 31 December 2020.
In business news, Sports Direct Plc today announced its name change to Fracers Group Plc while announcing 15 per cent growth in its core earnings aided by a nascent turnaround of its department store House of Fraser.
 London Stock Exchange
Best Performers*: SPORTS DIRECT INTERNATIONAL PLC (SPD), MAJEDIE INV PLC (MAJE) and SCHRODER UK PUBLIC PRIVATE TST PLC (SUPP) were on the bright spot for the day and up by 28.17%, 9.84% and 8.04% respectively.
Worst Performers*: TULLOW OIL PLC (TLW), FUNDING CIRCLE HOLDINGS PLC (FCH) and MITCHELLS & BUTLERS PLC (MAB) are the top three laggards of the day and down by 9.71%, 4.90% and 4.83% respectively.
FTSE 100 Index
 5-days Price Performance Chart of FTSE-100 Index (as on December-16-2019), before the market closed. (Source: Thomson Reuters)
Performers*: AUTO TRADER GROUP PLC (AUTO), BARCLAYS PLC (BARC) and BRITISH AMERICAN TOBACCO PLC (BATS) are the top three gainers in todayâs session and up by 5.26%, 5.16% and 4.87% respectively.
Laggards*: PEARSON PLC (PSON) was the major laggard at the FTSE 100 index and down by 0.58%.
Volume Gainers*: LLOYDS BANKING GROUP PLC (LLOY), BARCLAYS PLC (BARC), and ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND GROUP PLC (RBS).
Best Performing Sectors*: Basic Materials (up 3.14%), Industrials (up 3.09%) and Financials (up 3.08%).
Forex Rates*: GBP/USD and EUR/GBP were quoting at 1.3350 and 0.8348, respectively.
Bond Yields*: U.S 10-Year Treasuries yield was quoting at 1.885%, and the UK 10-Year Government Bond yield was trading at 0.828%, respectively.
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*At the time of writing
