Europe midday: Stocks push higher; Aegon and Vivendi surge

European stocks rose on Thursday amid hopes that Donald Trump’s plans to boost infrastructure spending and cut the corporate tax rate will help to underpin equities.

At midday, the benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 index and Germany’s DAX were up 0.8%, while France’s CAC 40 was 1.1% higher. Cyclicals paced the advance, with the Stoxx 600 sub-index for banks up 3.3% and the corresponding index for basic resources 3.6% stronger.

Meanwhile, oil prices were mixed after the International Energy Agency said OPEC’s oil production rose 230,000 barrels a day to a record high of 33.83m barrels in October.

West Texas Intermediate was flat at $45.21 a barrel and Brent crude was 0.7% higher at $46.67.

Oanda’s Craig Erlam said: “Instead it’s been like Brexit on speed and it seems like for now, at least, investors are keen to focus on the positive aspects of a Trump Presidency rather than some of the more worrying pledges made during the campaign.

“With the US election now behind us, attention returns firmly to the Federal Reserve meeting in December. Shortly after it became clear that Trump was going to become President elect and markets were in turmoil and deep risk aversion territory, the probability of a hike in the markets plummeted to around 50% from around 80% previously but, as with everything else, this quickly rebounded and now stands at around 71%. The absence of such a rebound yesterday and any kind of prolonged market turbulence would have made it very difficult in December for the Fed to have raised interest rates.”

In corporate news, Aegon NV surged after its third-quarter earnings beat expectations, while shares in France’s Vivendi also rose after better-than-expected quarterly results.

Zurich Insurance advanced after it posted a 342% rise in third-quarter net profit and Zalando rallied after the online retailer said it swung to a profit in the third quarter.

Italian insurer Generali edged higher despite posting a small drop in net profit for the first nine months of the year.

Siemens racked up healthy gains as the German industrial conglomerate reported a 20% jump in net profit for the fiscal fourth quarter.

Broadcaster ITV gained as it said revenues pushed up in the third quarter but advertising revenues declined.

Continental fell after reporting a big slump in third-quarter net profit, while AstraZeneca slid after its third-quarter revenues missed expectations.

National Grid slipped as it posted a 64% drop in pre-tax profit for the first half, while Hikma Pharmaceuticals slumped after it said it expects full-year revenue to to rise by around 35% to $2bn at constant currency, down a touch from previous guidance of between $2bn and $2.1bn.

Still to come on the macroeconomic calendar, US initial jobless claims are at 1330 GMT. Before that, investors will eye a speech by St Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard on the economic outlook at 1315 GMT.