European Stocks Close On Buoyant Note

European markets closed on a strong note on Thursday, rebounding well after a sell-off in the previous session, as some upbeat earnings and optimism about global economic recovery helped offset inflation worries and fears about monetary easing.

Upbeat data from the U.S. that showed jobless claims dropped last week, falling to the lowest level since mid-March 2020, aided sentiment. Cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, bounced back from previous session’s losses.

The minutes from the Federal Reserve’s April meeting released on Wednesday that said some members were considering a discussion on tapering the bank’s asset purchase programs in upcoming meetings, failed to any significantly impact the mood in the European markets today.

The pan European Stoxx 600 ended 1.27% up. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 climbed 1%, Germany’s DAX surged up 1.7% and France’s CAC 40 advanced 1.29%, while Switzerland’s SMI gained 0.97%.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden ended with sharp to moderate gains.

Russia edged up marginally, while Turkey closed notably lower.

Experian, which rose 4.7%, was the biggest gainer in the FTSE 100 Index. Rightmove, Compass Group, Flutter Entertainment, ICP, Aveva Group, DCC, Melrose Industries, Associated British Foods, Sage Group, Just Eat Takeaway, Smith & Nephew and Coca-Cola gained 2.5 to 4%.

National Grid shares gained about 2.2% after the company reported that its fiscal 2021 profit before tax climbed 19% to 2.08 billion pounds from last year’s 1.75 billion pounds.

Antofagasta, Tesco, IAG, Fresnillo, BAE Systems, Glencore and BT Group closed with sharp to moderate losses.

In the French market, Teleperformance, Danone, Essilor, WorldLine, Dassault Systemes, Saint Gobain, Schneider Electric, Atos, LVMH, Airbus Group, Sanofi and Publicis Groupe gained 1 to 3%. STMicroelectronics gained on news that the company is mulling an offer to buy its rival Nordic Semiconductor.

Bouygues shares edged up slightly after the conglomerate reported a smaller than expected first-quarter core loss and raised the full-year guidance for its telecoms division.

Air France-KLM shed more than 2% and Unibail Rodamco ended lower by about 1.4%.

In Germany, Fresenius, Daimler, Infineon Technologies, SAP, Merck, Covestro, RWE, Volkswagen, Fresenius Medical Care, Thyssenkrupp, Adidas, Vonovia, BMW and Deutsche Bank gained 1 to 4%.

Deutsche Telekom gained about 1.2% after raising its annual profit growth outlook.

On the economic front, Eurozone’s current account surplus in March decreased from the previous month, falling to EUR 18 billion from EUR 26 million in February, data from the European Central Bank showed. In the same month last year, the surplus was EUR 10 billion.

The goods trade surplus decreased to EUR 24 billion from EUR 33 billion in the previous month. The surplus in the services trade fell to EUR 8 billion from EUR 12 billion.

Data from Eurostat showed Eurozone’s construction output grew 2.7% month-on-month in March, after a 2% fall in February. In January, construction output increased 0.7%.

On a year-on-year basis, the construction output accelerated 18.3% in March, after a 5.4% decline in the prior month.

German producer prices increased 5.2% year-on-year in April, faster than the 3.7% rise seen in March, Destatis reported. Economists had forecast an annual growth of 5.1%.

UK manufacturing orders logged its strongest upturn since late 2017, survey results from the Confederation of British Industry showed on Thursday.

According to the latest Industrial Trends survey results, the total order book balance rose to +17% in May from -8% in April. This was the highest since December 2017. Meanwhile, the export order book balance was broadly unchanged at -17%.

Data released by the U.S. Labor Department showed initial unemployment claims in the U.S. fell to 444,000 last week (the lowest since the week ended March 14, when it had dropped to 256,000), down from a revised 478,000 claims in the previous week. Economists had expected unemployment claims to drop to around 450,000 in the week ending May 15th.

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