Europe open: Stocks push higher on hopes for rate cuts

Stocks across the Continent are moving higher, tracking gains overnight on Wall Street, with investors apparently cheered by the prospect of central bank easing on both sides of the Atlantic should trade tensions increase.

As of 1034 BST, the benchmark Stoxx 600 was up by 0.86% at 377.23, alongside a jump of 1.48% to 5,357.09 for the Cac-40, while the FTSE Mibtel was adding 0.86% to 20,352.18.

"European markets are in the green today, as the bullish sentiment that has permeated equity markets continues to hold. With the Dow heading for its best week of the year, there has been a clear shift, specifically centred around the possibility of multiple Fed rate cuts," said IG's Josh Mahony.

And on Friday morning, China's central bank joined in, with People's Bank of China Governor Yi Gang telling Bloomberg that there was "tremendous" room to adjust monetary policy.

Brent crude oil futures were also edging higher in the background, with the front month contract adding 0.92% to $62.24 a barrel on the ICE after Russia signalled that it would support an extension of oil output curbs alongside other producers from the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

Yet on the economic front, investors were digesting more weak data out of Germany.

According to the Federal Office of Statistics, German industrial production slumped by 1.9% in April (consensus: -0.4%) when compared to the month before and was 1.8% lower year-on-year, led a by 3.3% month-on-month drop in orders for capital goods.

Claus Vistesen at Pantheon Macroeconomics said a setback was expected given the "strong" output seen during the first quarter.

"It is too soon to say anything conclusive about the second quarter as a whole, but we fear that production will fall outright on the quarter, dragging GDP growth down after an otherwise solid start of the year," Vistesen said.

For later in the day, investors were waiting on US non-farm payrolls figures referencing the month which were scheduled for release at 1330 BST.