Europe midday: Stocks extend rebound, brush off Covid-19 concerns in States

Stocks across the Continent are extending their rebound from the previous day, even as news breaks of multiple US states pausing moves to ease lockdowns.

Investors were also keeping tabs on US equity futures which were mostly pointing higher following the release of the latest US Federal Reserve stress test results for the country's biggest lenders.

Overnight, officials in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and Florida announced plans to halt plans to lift the Covid-19 lockdowns in their states.

Against that backdrop, as of 1213 BST the benchmark Stoxx 600 was up 1.32% at 364.5, alongside a 1.21% gain for the German Dax to 12,328.97 while the FTSE Mibtel was ahead by 1.53% to 19,529.19.

Travel&Leisure issues were the best performing segment of the market, with the Stoxx 600 sector sub-index climbing 1.63%.

On the economic side of things, euro area M3 money supply growth continued to bound ahead in May, with the annual rate of growth reaching 8.9%, against 8.2% in the month before (consensus: 8.7%).

Commenting on the latest data, Claus Vistesen at Pantheon Macroeconomics said: "First, and optimistically, they show that a liquidity crunch, which could easily have followed the collapse in real economic activity, has been averted.

"It's very unusual for the private sector’s money balances to rebound this soon, and this quickly, in the context of a downturn. The fact that they are suggest that conditions for a rebound in spending and investment are solid."

Those figures were published alongside others showing a stronger-than-expected increases in consumer confidence in France and Italy in June.

In Spain meanwhile, retail sales were reported at down by 19% year-on-year in May, against a 31.6% drop in April (consensus: -19.8%).