Markets Today: CME Glitch Halts Trading, German Retail Sales Fall, Ukraine-Russia in Focus, FTSE 100 Back Above 100-day MA

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Trading on the CME (Chicago Mercantile Exchange), which handles futures and options, had to be stopped because of a technical glitch. This problem specifically impacted the ability to trade things like US Treasury futures and S&P 500 Index contracts. Because the CME was down, it also caused problems for forex trading on the EBS platform.

Meanwhile, global stocks, as measured by the MSCI All Country World Index, barely moved as investors lacked clear direction right after the US Thanksgiving holiday, though the index still managed to finish the entire week up by 3.1%. Asian stock markets were generally steady, but they are currently on track for their first monthly drop since March.

The main index for Asia-Pacific stocks outside of Japan fell slightly by 0.3% on Friday, yet it was still up 2.7% for the week (the first weekly gain in a month), but it remains down 3% for the whole month.

Japan's Nikkei stock index saw little movement on Friday and is set to end the week up by 3.2%, but it is still down 4.3% for the month.

Samsung Electronics 005930.KS and SK Hynix 000660.KS fell around 2% each.

In Germany, retail sales fell by 0.3% in October 2025 compared to the previous month. This was a surprise, as markets had expected a small increase, and it reversed the slight gain seen in September. This marks the fifth time sales have dropped this year, driven mainly by a 0.7% decline in sales of non-food items and a 0.6% fall in online and mail-order business.

In France, the annual inflation rate remained stable at 0.9% in November 2025, which was lower than the 1% rate forecasters expected. This steady rate was due to slower price increases for services (especially communication costs) and a slightly bigger drop in the prices of manufactured goods. These effects were partially balanced out by energy prices falling less sharply than before, and food inflation speeding up just slightly.

Finally, France's inflation rate, when measured using the EU's standard method (Harmonised CPI), also stayed at 0.87% annually and fell 0.2% from the previous month.

European stock prices barely changed on Friday.

Despite this, they are on track to have their best week in two months and are set for a fifth straight month of gains, mainly because investors are increasingly betting that the US will cut interest rates soon. Investors avoided making large trades as they headed into the weekend, especially with the U.S. stock market only open for a half-day.

Trading was further complicated by a technical failure at the CME Group, which stopped trading on its key currency platform and on futures markets for things like stocks, effectively freezing several major stock indexes as brokers withdrew their products.

The main European stock index, the STOXX 600, slipped slightly by 0.1%, but it is still heading for its longest streak of monthly wins since March 2024.

Within the index, Energy stocks performed the best, rising 0.3% because oil prices went up. Travel and leisure stocks were the worst performers this morning, dropping 0.7%. In company news,

Delivery Hero shares jumped 8.75% after a report suggested that investors are pressuring the management to consider selling the company or breaking up parts of the business.

On the FX front, the US dollar is currently set for its biggest weekly drop since late July. This weakness is because traders are increasingly expecting the Federal Reserve to further lower interest rates next month. The market was also quieter than usual because of the US Thanksgiving holiday.

The dollar index, which tracks the dollar's value against six other major currencies, was up slightly by 0.1% at 99.624, recovering a bit after five days of losses.

In Asia, the Japanese yen saw its value move up and down after a recent period of decline; it was last 0.1% weaker at 156.385 yen as strong job market and inflation data suggested that Japan might tighten its monetary policy. The euro was stable at 1.1600.

The British pound was 0.1% weaker at $1.323 on the day, but it is still heading for its best weekly performance since early August, following the UK Finance Minister's plan to raise £26 billion ($34 billion) in taxes.

The Australian dollar gained slightly, up 0.1% at $0.6536. Finally, the offshore Chinese yuan was steady at 7.074 yuan per US dollar and is on track for its best monthly gain since August.

Currency Power Balance

The price of Brent crude oil futures rose slightly on Friday. This was due to ongoing tensions because the Russia-Ukraine peace talks are dragging out, which keeps geopolitical risks high.

Additionally, traders were watching the upcoming OPEC+ meeting on Sunday for any signals about whether the group plans to change how much oil it produces.

Separately, the trading of US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures was stopped because of the CME Group system issue.

Spot prices for gold increased and are heading for their fourth monthly gain in a row. This rise is mainly supported by investors who are optimistic that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates in December.

However,just before the CME outage, US gold futures for December delivery were priced at $4,221.30/oz.

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The European session will be all the focus given that US markets will close early.

We still have German inflation data to be released before eyes turn to the Canadian GDP release early in the US session..

Market participants are still paying close attention to geopolitical news, but so far, it hasn't had a major effect on currency exchange rates. Yesterday, President Putin suggested that the agreement being discussed in Geneva could serve as a starting point for a future peace deal with Ukraine.

Adding to this, Steve Witkoff, the US peace envoy, is confirmed to visit Moscow next week. Because of this upcoming visit, we might see growing hopes that a major breakthrough in the negotiations is possible. Although the financial markets are quite doubtful that a peace deal will actually happen, any real progress from this point onward is expected to cause the US dollar to weaken and potentially boost the value of higher-risk European currencies.

From a technical standpoint, the FTSE 100 has continued its recovery bouncing off support at the 9660 support handle yesterday.

The index trades above the 100-day MA again with further gains toward 9750 and beyond a possibility.

A pullback now faces support at 9630 (200-day MA) and the 9550 handle which could prove a tough nut to crack for bears.

The RSI period-14 remains above the 50 mark which is a sign of bullish momentum.

FTSE 100 Index Daily Chart, November 28. 2025

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