Europe midday: Stocks hold on to gains on China data, US stimulus hopes
European shares held slim gains at midday as momentum from an easing of China factory deflation kept markets in positive territory and investors eyed more positive stimulus news from the US
All major European bourses were up, helping the pan-European Stoxx 600 index start the week up 0.3%. President Donald Trump’s decision to extend jobless support measures via executive orders as Congressional leaders failed to agree on a deal boosted sentiment.
“The signing by the President Trump of a number of executive orders to mitigate the loss of the $600 enhanced unemployment benefit appears to have introduced an element of comfort to markets who believe rightly, or wrongly that there will be a longer term agreement in the coming weeks,” said CMC Markets chief analyst Michael Hewson.
Chinese inflation data also helped to underpin the tone. Figures from the National Bureau of Statistics showed factory gate prices fell at a slower pace in July, with consumer inflation up on the back of higher food prices amid a recovery from the coronavirus pandemic and disruptions from regional flooding.
CPI climbed to 2.7% year-on-year after a 2.5% increase in June and PPI registered a 2.4% drop compared with a 3% decline the previous month.
Shares in energy giants BP, Royal Dutch Shell and Total rose on firmer crude oil prices after Saudi Aramco raised optimism about Asian demand and Iraq pledged to deepen supply cuts.
Cineworld was to the top riser, tracking gains for US peers on Friday after a US judge granted the government’s request to end the Paramount Decrees, a set of antitrust rules from the 1940s and 1950s that banned film studios from owning theatres.
Carnival shares were up after its AIDA Cruises unit said operations would resume from German ports at the beginning of September 2020 after gaining approvals from the Italian government on Covid-19 safety precautions.
The first trips from Kiel will start on September 6 and cruises with cruises on the company’s AIDAperla vessel to the Norwegian fjords also sailing from Hamburg on September 12, 19 and 26.