European stocks held steady on Thursday as investors awaited the U.S. initial jobless claims report due later today and the all-important nonfarm payrolls report due Friday for clues about the Fed’s timelines for asset tapering and interest rate hikes.
Eurostat data released earlier in the day showed that Euro zone producer prices rose more than expected in July on the back of a jump in the prices of energy and intermediate goods.
Prices at factory gates in the 19 countries sharing the euro rose 2.3 percent month-on-month for a 12.1 percent year-on-year surge.
The pan European Stoxx 600 inched up 0.2 percent to 474.17 after rising half a percent on Wednesday.
The German DAX was marginally higher and France’s CAC 40 index edged up 0.1 percent while the U.K.’s FTSE 100 was marginally lower on the back of a raft of ex-dividend moves.
Swedish Orphan Biovitrum jumped 25 percent after U.S. venture capital firm Advent International and Aurora Investment offered to buy the drug maker in a deal valued about 69.4 billion Swedish crowns ($8 billion).
Miner BHP Group slumped 6.3 percent on going ex-dividend.
Engineering firm Melrose Industries soared 4.4 percent after it swung to a first-half profit.
Consumer goods maker Unilever lost 2.5 percent as JP Morgan downgraded the stock to “underweight” from “neutral”.
Wizz Air Holdings shares rose about 1 percent. The low-cost airline said that it carried 3.58 million passengers in the month of August 2021, 50.4 percent higher than last year’s 2.38 million passengers.
Online trading platform CMC Markets plummeted as much as 27 percent after cutting its full-year earnings outlook.
French speed-train maker Alstom SA fell 2.2 percent. The company said it will supply 35 additional Citadis tramways to Lyon’s Public Transport Authority SYTRAL in France.
Evotec SE shares rose about 1 percent. The German drug discovery alliance and development partnership company announced that Bristol Myers Squibb Co. (BMY) has exercised its option to enter into an exclusive global license for EVT8683.
Market Analysis
European Shares Hold Steady Ahead Of US Employment Report
2021-09-02 09:47:01
