By James Langton
(June 23 – 09:00 ET) – All the data for the week is in so, today, traders are focusing on next week’s meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve Board. Business Week and The Washington Post is apparently giving traders a little optimism this morning, as analysts are predicting the status quo on interest rates.
In Europe, markets are mostly on the downside, however, led by Unilever on the old economy side and Cap Gemini on the new economy side. London’s FTSE dropped 30 points to 6383. In France, the CAC 40 has shed eight points to 6467. Germany’s DAX is off 40 points to 7013 at midday.
In Asia stocks ended the week lower too. The Nikkei finished the day down 142 points to 16963. Meanwhile, the Hang Seng slid 214 points to close at 15738.
In Canadian business news Celestica Inc. has announced a deal to acquire the Brazilian manufacturing facility of NEC Corp. It has also signed a five year supply agreement with NEC worth US$1.2 billion.