Boxing Day bounce stalls Wall St losing streak following worst Christmas Eve sell-off ever. Wall Street rebounded last night following the worst Christmas Eve sell-off ever and a dismal stock market performance throughout December. A partial government shutdown, worries that President Trump may fire Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell and confusing remarks from Treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin about US banks sent shares plunging on Monday. The Dow and S&P 500 each fell by almost 3%, their largest Christmas Eve declines ever. Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at New York-based Spartan Capital Securities, said: ‘With the end of the quarter, we could get a bounce in the next few days.’But he added that the problem is ‘Trump continues to create a lot of uncertainty. We can’t focus on the fact there are a lot of good bargains out there’.
Bargain hunters are enjoying a £4.75billion spending spree in today’s Boxing Day sales after millions queued from midnight outside shopping centres across Britain. Retailers are slashing the price of clothing, homewares and household gadgets by up to 70% in the hope of attracting as many customers as possible in what has been a tough year for the High Street. The combined in-store and online spending total is set to be an all-time UK daily retail spending record, Centre for Retail Research data shows. The estimated £3.71bn spent in shops and £1.04bn online will beat last years record total of 4.46billion, experts predict. Many retailers are offering record bargains in a bid to rescue profits as experts said it was ‘encouraging’ to see shoppers flocking back to high street stores. Thousands queued from the early hours at shopping centres and retail parks, including those in Newcastle, Birmingham, Manchester and Cardiff. Oxford Street was also packed out as shoppers flocked to the retail hotspot with the price of good slashed by up to 50% in some stores. Some 50,000 shoppers were through the doors of Westfield London and Stratford City by 10am. The Harrods Winter Sale launched this morning, with customers arriving at 7am, queuing on all sides of the famous department store. Analysts also said today’s expected record spree was triggered by shoppers focusing on Boxing Day to pick up a bargain and a post-Christmas rush after low pre-Christmas shopper numbers.
