Markets Are Sinking

MIKE BIRD

 OCT. 24, 2014

REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui

Good morning. European markets opened down, after an Ebola-driven drop in US stock futures. 

Here’s the scorecard, so far: 

France’s CAC 40 is down 0.60%

Spain’s IBEX is down 0.41%

Italy’s FTSE MIB is down 0.51%

Britain’s FTSE 100 is down 0.57%

Germany’s DAX is down 0.58%

In Asia, the Nikkei closed up 1.01% and the Hang Seng is currently down 0.33%

S&P futures are down 0.24% and Dow futures are down 0.10%.

In terms of economic data, we’ve already seen Chinese property prices, with the index falling in 69 of China’s 70 major urban areas. 

Germany’s GfK index of consumer confidence came in higher than expected, at 8.5, up from last month’s 8.4. 

At 4.30 a.m. ET, UK GDP data will be released. Analysts are expecting a 0.7% increase in the third quarter, up from a 0.9% rise in the second, with the fast-growing economy moderating a little.

From the US, September’s new home sales will be announced at 10 a.m. ET. Economists are expecting about 470,000 sales of new homes this month.