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| - Stock markets retreated Wednesday, as a rally fuelled by vaccine hopes petered out despite confirmation that the UK will next week begin rolling out the Pfizer-BioNTech drug against Covid. As is often the case, stock markets rally on hopes of good news and then fall back when the anticipation becomes reality. "The lack of market reaction suggests that this decision was probably widely expected at some point," noted Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK. On Wall Street, all three major indices opened lower, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite having already closed yesterday at new record highs. The announcement late Tuesday by Salesforce of a $27.7 billion deal to buy online collaboration firm Slack failed to drive the market higher, with shares in both firms also falling. In European trading meanwhile, Paris and Frankfurt were both lower. London's FTSE 100 bucked the trend, helped by the slide in the value of the pound, which tends to boost the value of multinationals with most of their earnings in dollars. The pound slid against the dollar and euro, as EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier told diplomats he could not guarantee a trade deal being agreed with Britain ahead of a December 31 deadline. Elsewhere in trading, oil prices slipped after OPEC and other major producers failed to reach an agreement on extending output cuts that have provided support to the commodity through the pandemic. They said they would meet again on Thursday. On Wednesday, Britain became the first western country to approve a Covid-19 vaccine for general use, a major advance in the fightback against the coronavirus. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson hailed the "fantastic" news, while urging the public to remain cautious on the day that England exited a four-week lockdown and re-imposed regional curbs. While hopes of vaccine roll-outs worldwide -- and the expected economic recovery they fuel -- continue to be the main driver for equities, investors have won an extra boost this week from a bipartisan group of US lawmakers offering a $908-billion compromise to pass a much-needed stimulus package. The move comes amid fears that millions of Americans will lose crucial financial support over the festive period. London - FTSE 100: UP 0.5 percent at 6,415.47 points Frankfurt - DAX 30: DOWN 0.7 percent at 13,295.60 Paris - CAC 40: DOWN 0.4 percent at 5,559.39 EURO STOXX 50: DOWN 0.4 percent at 3,510.11 New York - Dow: DOWN 0.7 percent at 29,623.84 Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 0.1 percent at 26,800.98 (close) Hong Kong - Hang Seng: DOWN 0.1 percent at 26,532.58 (close) Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 0.1 percent at 3,449.55 (close) Euro/dollar: UP at $1.2069 from $1.2068 at 2200 GMT Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3304 from $1.3423 Dollar/yen: UP at 104.51 yen from 104.32 yen Euro/pound: UP at 90.73 pence from 89.87 pence West Texas Intermediate: DOWN less than 0.1 percent at $44.51 per barrel Brent North Sea crude: DOWN less than 0.1 percent at $47.40 per barrel burs-rl/jj
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