The most prominent event today were the severing of diplomatic relations with the State of Qatar by Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Yemen and Libya accusing it of supporting terrorist organizations and opening the door to the worst years of dissension among some Arab countries. This decision has had a significant impact on the movements of the Gulf stocks, especially the Qatari bourse, which its main index lost more than 7% of its value, and had an impact on oil prices, which fell during trading today being traded near the lowest levels last Friday at 47$ per barrel.
London's terrorist attacks over the weekend were overshadowed by the start of the week's trading, with sterling opening up on a small price gap that was quickly covered as markets waited for Thursday's general election, some calling for a postponement as a result of recent events. The Conservatives are still at the forefront of opinion polls and remains the only concern that Teresa May and her party cannot win the majority.
On the economic data, Britain's service sector slowed in a month, but overall data point to an improvement in the economy, with the PMI growing only 53.8 points from last month's 55.8. In the US, the service sector also recorded some slowdown, but the data also broadly indicate the continued growth of the sector, especially the employment component, which removed some of the concerns about the labor market, especially with the disappointing employment data last Friday.
