Europe midday: German investors play catch-up with euro proving boon
Airbus Group N.V.
€157.06
17:19 26/04/24
Stocks on the Continent are powering ahead as German investors play catch-up after a bank holiday, helped by apparently solid readings on Chinese factory sector activity and the US jobs market.
CAC 40
8,088.24
17:00 26/04/24
DJ EURO STOXX 50
4,939.01
23:59 25/04/24
As of 1215 BST, the benchmark Stoxx 600 was up by a solid 0.63% or 2.50 points at 397.72, albeit weighed down by underperformance in the Cac-40 which was ahead by a smaller 0.41% to 5,526.05, while Spain's Ibex 35 was taking a breather following a recent sharp snap back, adding 0.13% to stand at 10,535.70.
Trading volumes in Madrid were also lighter than usual with many traders away on account of the All Saints' feastday. In Germany on the other hand, investors were to an extent playing catch up after the Reformation Day bank holiday during the previous session.
Worth noting, the single currency as again to be seen drifting slightly lower, alongside another move higher for crude oil futures.
The euro-dollar cross was down by 0.32% at 1.1613 while Brent oil futures for next month delivery were up by 0.83% to $61.45 a barrel on the ICE.
At the sector level, automnobile stocks were putting in a strong showing ahead of monthly US sales figures for the sector due out later in the day.
Overnight, the private sector-compiled Caixin factory sector purchasing managers' index for October printed at 51.0, which was unchanged from the prior month, as expected by economists.
Meanwhile, the ADP private sector payrolls report revealed a 235,000 increase in hiring Stateside (consensus: 190,000).
Economic news was light on the ground on the Continent, although Ireland's central statistics office reported a dip in the country's unemployment rate from 6.1% in September to 6.0% for October.
Airbus was edging lower after disclosing it had found some inaccuracies in filings to US regulators over arms technology sales.
Acting as an offset, analyst at Barclays reiterated their 'overweight' recommendation and €110 target price for the shares.
"While these results were solid, in our view, near-term earnings are depressed, volatile and wholly inappropriate for valuation purposes. We do, however, maintain that Airbus is still materially mispriced (see our 25 Sept report) on a multi-year view," Barclays said.
Shares of German-Spanish outfit Siemens Gamesa were also trading on the front foot following news that it clinched orders for 310 wind turbines with a total capacity of 784 MW during the third quarter covering five projects in the US.