European Markets Pulled Back In Thin Holiday Trade

(RTTNews) - The European markets ended Monday's session in the red. Trading activity was rather thin on Christmas Eve. Several markets, including the German and Italian markets, were closed ahead of tomorrow's Christmas holiday.

Political uncertainty in the U.S. weighed on investor sentiment at the start of the new trading week. The partial U.S. government shutdown took effect at midnight last Friday and is likely to continue until after Christmas, as President Donald Trump and Democratic lawmakers remain "far apart" on the issue of funding for the president's controversial border wall.

Meanwhile, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin moved to quell firestorm over repeated attacks on the Federal Reserve, saying President Donald Trump is opposed to the Fed's rate hike campaign, but has never suggested firing Board Chairman Jerome Powell.

After calling the bank CEOs on Sunday in an apparent attempt to check on system liquidity, Mnuchin will chair a meeting of the President's Working Group on Financial Markets later today.

The pan-European Stoxx Europe 600 index weakened 0.42 percent. The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks decreased 0.89 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, lost 0.49 percent.

The DAX of Germany was closed and the CAC of France fell 1.45 percent. The FTSE 100 of the U.K. declined 0.52 percent and the SMI of Switzerland was closed.

There were no economic reports due to the Christmas holiday.