The FTSE 100 (^FTSE) and European stocks were higher on Tuesday after a positive session on Wall Street on the last trading day before Christmas.
It came as Vistry (VTY.L) tumbled as the housebuilder issued its third profit warning of the year.
The stock market will have a shortened Christmas Eve session today, with investors look for a late Santa rally ahead of the festive break.
Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank, said:
“It’s never too late to believe in Santa. Investors on Monday were shrugging off the bad news of past week – especially the one that suggested that the Federal Reserve (Fed) would cut its rates only two times in 2025 due to a too resilient US economy.
“Yesterday’s data that showed that the US durable goods orders fell more than expected in November, the new home sales rebounded slightly less than expected and the consumer confidence unexpectedly dropped in December.
“This bag of bad news helped tempering the latest hawkish shift in Fed expectations. As such, the buyers are out and buying. The S&P 500 rebounded 0.73%, Nasdaq 100…
