View from City Road: Big hopes for a Gatt accord

If the US and European negotiators are taken at their word, they are within striking distance of a historic accord on trade in agriculture and tariff reductions for industrial goods.

A breakthrough could be clinched on Monday and set in train intensive final negotiations among the other 116 countries in the Uruguay round of Gatt world trade talks.

There are just 11 days to go before the 15 December final deadline expires. A successful outcome for Gatt could have a dramatic effect on financial markets.

As with the Nafta negotiations, the markets have not discounted a successful conclusion. Rising share and bond prices would be only the start. An agreement could put a floor under recession elsewhere in the industrial world.