European Shares Poised For Positive Opening

European stocks are likely to open higher on Monday after official data showed China’s export growth jumped to the highest in over two decades amid a steady recovery in the domestic economy and strong overseas demand.

Meanwhile, hopes of a global recovery got a boost from the passing of the $1.9 trillion stimulus in the United States. The relief measure will now go back to the House for a final vote expected Tuesday.

Asian markets gave up early gains to turn mixed on valuation concerns and amid worries that rising inflation might end a spell of ultralow interest rates.

A dip in the dollar index on improved risk sentiment lifted gold prices while Brent crude futures jumped over $70 a barrel for the first time since the Covid-19 outbreak after a missile attack on facilities owned by energy giant Aramco in Saudi Arabia.

Industrial production data from Germany and investor confidence survey results from euro area are due later in the session, headlining a light day for the European economic news.

U.S. stocks fluctuated before ending sharply higher on Friday as bond yields steadied after spiking early in the session on the back up upbeat jobs data offering evidence of an economy recovering from the effects of Covid-19.

Non-farm payroll employment jumped by 379,000 jobs in February after climbing by an upwardly revised 166,000 jobs in January due to a rebound in employment in the leisure and hospitality industry, the Labor Department said.

Economists had expected employment to increase by 182,000 jobs compared to the uptick of 49,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month. The unemployment rate unexpectedly edged down to 6.2 percent from 6.3 percent in January.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq hit its lowest intraday level in nearly three months before rebounding to end 1.6 percent higher, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 1.9 percent and the S&P 500 added 2 percent.

European stocks closed lower on Friday as bond yields rose on inflation expectations after comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

The pan European Stoxx 600 shed 0.8 percent. The German DAX lost 1 percent, France’s CAC 40 index gave up 0.8 percent and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 eased 0.3 percent.

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