European Shares Rebound With Focus On Lagarde Speech

RTTNews | vor 979 Tagen

(RTTNews) - European stocks traded higher on Friday after two straight days of declines on concerns about the impact of China's "zero-COVID" strategy and indications that the U.S. Federal Reserve will keep raising rates to fight inflation.

Closer home, the European Central Bank will keep raising rates as withdrawing accommodation may not be enough to curb inflation, ECB President Christine Lagarde said in a speech at a conference.

The pan European STOXX 600 was up 0.7 percent at 431.57 after declining 0.4 percent on Thursday.

The German DAX climbed 0.8 percent, France's CAC 40 index surged 0.9 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was up 0.7 percent.

Regional banks traded mostly higher as the European Central Bank begins the biggest withdrawal of cash from the euro zone's banking system in its history.

British insurance giant Legal & General rallied 3.4 percent after backing its FY22 operating profit view.

Bodycote added 1.4 percent. After reporting strong revenue growth in its third quarter, the heat treatment and thermal processing services specialist said it expects its full-year performance to meet market expectations.

The dollar edged lower in early European trade but was still heading for a weekly gain following recent hawkish Fed comments.

Oil pared early gains and was on track for a steep weekly decline on concerns about weakening demand in China.

In economic news, U.K. retail sales volumes advanced 0.6 percent on a monthly basis in October, faster than the expected growth of 0.3 percent, data from the Office for National Statistic showed.

The monthly growth reversed the revised 1.5 percent decrease in September, which was affected by the bank holiday for the State Funeral.

Year-on-year, the decline in retail sales slowed to 6.1 percent from 6.8 percent in September.

Separately, survey results from market research group Gfk revealed that consumer confidence improved in November for the second straight month.

Swiss Market Ends Modestly Lower

The Switzerland market stayed a bit positive in early trades on Thursday, but retreated around mid morning and then spent the rest of the day's session in negative territory, as investors stayed largely cautious, reacting to earnings and awaiting news from the trade front.

RTTNews | vor 15 Minuten

European Stocks Close Broadly Higher

European stocks closed broadly higher on Thursday despite paring most of their early gains, after the European Central Bank left its interest rate unchanged for the first time in a year. The ECB held its key interest rates steady, in line with expectations.

RTTNews | vor 35 Minuten

U.S. New Home Sales Rebound Much Less Than Expected In June

After reporting a steep drop by new home sales in the U.S. in the previous month, the Commerce Department released a report on Thursday showing a modest rebound by new home sales in the month of June. The Commerce Department said new home sales rose by 0.6 percent to an annual rate of 627,000 in June after plummeting by 11.6 percent to a rate of 623,000 in May.

RTTNews | vor 2Std 28 Minuten

U.S. Initial Jobless Claims Unexpectedly Dip To 217,000

The Labor Department released a report on Thursday unexpectedly showing another modest decrease by first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended July 19th. The report said initial jobless claims edged down to 217,000, a decrease of 4,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 221,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to rise to 227,000.

RTTNews | vor 3Std 10 Minuten

ECB Leaves Rates Unchanged As Expected

The European Central Bank held its key interest rates steady on Thursday, in line with expectations, as policymakers assessed that price pressures continue to ease, but acknowledged that the economic environment remains highly uncertain mainly due to the trade tariff wars.

RTTNews | vor 3Std 54 Minuten

UK Private Sector Growth Moderates On Services Activity

UK private sector output continued to grow in July but the pace of expansion moderated as services activity lost momentum, flash survey results from S&P Global revealed on Thursday. The composite output index slid to 51.0 in July from 52.0 in June. The reading was also above the forecast of 51.9.

RTTNews | vor 4Std 35 Minuten

Bay Street Likely To Open On Mixed Note; Trade Talks, Earnings In Focus

Canadian shares are likely to open on a mixed note Thursday morning with investors focusing on trade talks between Canadian and U.S. officials, and reacting to the latest batch of economic data. The focus will also be on U.S. President Donald Trump's visit to the Federal Reserve today. Ahead of next week's policy meeting of the Fed, the visit looks significant.

RTTNews | vor 5Std 6 Minuten

Eurozone Private Sector Growth At 11-Month High

The euro area private sector grew at the fastest pace in almost a year in July as the recession in the manufacturing sector is coming to an end, flash survey results from S&P Global revealed Thursday. The HCOB composite output index posted 51.0 in July, up from 50.6 in the previous month. A score above 50.0 signals expansion.

RTTNews | vor 5Std 9 Minuten

EURUSD	1.17733	GBPUSD	1.35216	AUDUSD	0.66008
USDJPY	146.79	USDCAD	1.36325	USDCHF	0.79386

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European Shares Rebound With Focus On Lagarde Speech