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Chinese Data Boost European Shares

By RTTNews Staff Writer   ✉   | Published:   | Follow Us On Google News
rttnewslogo20mar2024

The European markets are moderately to notably higher in afternoon trading Tuesday, as strong Chinese industrial output data and in-line inflation figures lifted sentiment across global markets. The fairly positive data has generated a wave of bargain hunting across markets, ahead of a key retail sales report due out from the U.S. later in the global trading day.

The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks is gaining 1.26 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, is adding 0.84 percent.

The German DAX is gaining 1.52 percent and the French CAC 40 is adding 0.79 percent. The UK's FTSE 100 is rising 0.35 percent and Switzerland's SMI is advancing 0.59 percent.

Among the DAX components, Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank are advancing 2 percent and 1.6 percent, respectively.

In auto stocks, Daimler is gaining 1.8 percent and Volkswagen is rising 1.6 percent. BMW is adding 1 percent. UBS cut its rating on BMW to "Sell" from "Neutral."

Porsche is losing 0.5 percent in Frankfurt. UBS reduced its rating on the stock to "Neutral" from "Buy" and reduced the price target to 50 euros from 60 euros.

Steel giant ThyssenKrupp is adding 2.1 percent. Kloeckner & Co is rising 2.5 percent in Frankfurt. Goldman Sachs added the steel firm to "Conviction Buy" and raised the price target to 29 euros from 27.33 euros.

Outside the main index, Q-Cells is rising 4.9 percent in Frankfurt after UBS raised its rating on the stock to "Neutral" from "Sell," but decreased the price target to 1.65 euros from 2.20 euros.

Meanwhile, SMA Solar was cut to "Hold" from "Add" at Commerzbank and the price target was lowered to 75 euros from 95 euros. The stock is up 0.5 percent.

In Paris, Cap Gemini is advancing 2.1 percent. The company said it has entered into exclusive negotiations with funds managed by Apax Partners and the Prosodie management team to acquire multi-channel services operator Prosodie.

Lender BNP Paribas is climbing 1.9 percent. Societe Generale, Natixis and Credit Agricole are advancing between 1.7 percent and 1 percent. Citigroup cut its price target on Credit Agricole to 11.10 euros from 12 euros.

Carmaker Renault is adding 1.85 percent and Peugeot is gaining 1.2 percent.

Media firm Vivendi is up 0.2 percent. UBS cut its price target on the stock to 19 euros from 20.50 euros.

Miners Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton, Anglo American and Antofagasta are adding between 0.85 percent and 1.7 percent in London.

Barclays is gaining about 2 percent and Royal Bank of Scotland is adding 2.3 percent. Lloyds Banking Group is advancing 1.8 percent.

Imperial Tobacco is falling 1.7 percent and British American Tobacco is dropping 1 percent. Credit Suisse cut its price target on Imperial Tobacco to 2,350 pence from 2,420 pence.

Glencore is declining 2.35 percent. The company reported strong profit growth in the first quarter and also agreed to buy CST Resources, which indirectly owns 70 percent of the Mina Justa Project in southern Peru. Eurasian Natural Resources, said to be a takeover target of Glencore, is falling 2.4 percent.

Tesco is down 0.6 percent. The retailer said its U.K. like-for-like sales, excluding VAT and fuel, dipped 0.1 percent in the first quarter, which was below analysts' expectations for a modest growth.

Handset maker Nokia said it inked a patent license agreement with Apple Inc., settling all patent litigation between the companies. Nokia shares are gaining 1.9 percent in Helsinki.

Yara is down 0.65 percent in Oslo. Credit Suisse raised the company's price target to 400 Norwegian kroner from 365 kroner.

In economic news, U.K. consumer price annual inflation came in at 4.5 percent in May, unchanged from April, data from the Office for National Statistics showed. The rate also matched the consensus forecast.

In China, inflation rose to 5.5 percent in May from 5.3 percent in April, National Statistics Bureau said. The rate was in line with expectations, and the highest since July 2008. Meanwhile, the country's production growth topped forecast in May. Production grew 13.3 percent, beating forecasts for a 13.1 percent rise following the 13.4 percent in April.

Across Asia/Pacific, most major markets ended higher. Australia's All Ordinaries added 0.35 percent, Japan's Nikkei 225 climbed 1.05 percent and China's Shanghai Composite Index gained 1.10 percent. However, Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped 0.05 percent.

In the U.S., futures point to a higher open on Wall Street. In the previous session, the Dow added 0.01 percent and the S&P 500 gained 0.07 percent, while the Nasdaq slipped 0.2 percent.

In the commodity space, crude for July delivery is sliding $0.48 to $96.82 per barrel and August gold is rising $1.8 to $1517.4 a troy ounce.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Global Economics Weekly Update - May 04 – May 08, 2026

May 08, 2026 15:50 ET
Manufacturing and services sector survey results and labor market data from main economies were the highlight on the economics news front this week. Factory orders and jobs report dominated the news flow in the U.S. Similarly, industrial production data from German garnered attention in Europe. In Asia, purchasing managers’ survey results from China and the central bank decision from Australia were in focus.

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