Europe midday: Shares retain optimistic gains as US futures move higher
European shares continued to make gains on Wednesday as investors remained optimistic about a potential Covid-19 vaccine from Pfizer and and BioNTech, despite the rising number of cases across the Continent.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 index was up 0.51%, with all bourses up. The UK FTSE 100 hit its highest level since June, while US futures helped to spur sentiment, with the Dow indicating a 230 point rise while S&P and Nasdaq futures were also higher.
Neil Wilson at Markets.com said that after Monday’s surge on the news of a potential vaccine “investors will need to work out now which ‘value’ stocks remain value traps and which have some growth in them”.
“Expect pullbacks along the way but the overall landscape remains much more positive than it was a week ago for these sectors worst affected by the pandemic.”
“However it’s a bit more complex today than being all about the reopening trade – this week’s big gainers like Rolls-Royce and Compass Group are down, whilst Ocado, Kingfisher and Just Eat have risen. “
In corporate news, German IT group Bechtle topped the gainers board after third quarter earnings beat expectations. The company said earnings grew 26.2% €50.76m.
Defence aerospace group BAE Systems rallied after it said underlying earnings would be slightly higher than forecast as order intake levels moved ahead of original pre-Covid planning.
Flutter Entertainment gained as it upgraded its earnings forecast for business outside the US but said the loss at its American gambling operation would be bigger than expected after it spent to acquire customers.
French shopping mall owner Klepierre was down after strong gains over the last two days. Travel food operator SSP was also down along with Frankfurt airport operator Fraport.
Dutch bank ABN Amro dropped 3.4% even after it beat analysts' expectations, while German auto supplier Continental slid 1.6% as it warned of further restructuring expenses in the fourth quarter.