Europe midday: Stocks push higher after strong PMIs, Greek debt deal
Stocks are continuing to push higher, buoyed by a much-better-than-expected reading on the euro area services sector, and following an agreement overnight to help improve the sustainability of Greece's mountain of sovereign debt.
Contrary to economists' forecasts, IHS Markit's widely-followed 'composite' Purchasing Managers' Index for Eurozone services and manufacturing jumped from a reading of 54.1 in May to 54.8 (consensus: 53.8).
Critically, although the factory sector PMI dropped from 54.8 to 54.3 - plumbing a 19-month low - on the back of political and trade uncertainty, it was offset by a rise in the services PMI from 53.8 to 55.0 - a four-month high.
Commenting on those readings, Chris Williamson at IHS said: "While the June upturn provides some hope that the weakening of official data earlier in the year may have overstated the region's weakness, the risks remained tilted towards a further slowdown in the second half of the year."
Against that backdrop, as of 1203 BST the benchmark Stoxx 600 was adding 0.74% o 2.80 points to 383.65, alongside a rise of 0.85% or 45.08 points to 5,360.81 for the Cac-40 and a jump on the FTSE Mibtel of 1.26% or 273.81 points to 21,945.16.
Germany's Dax meanwhile was a relative laggard, advancing by 0.39% or 48.60 points to 12,559.57.
Following a marathon round of talks overnight, the Mediterranean country's creditors, the International Monetary Fund, European Central Bank and European Union, agreed to extend the maturities on the €96.6bn of debt owed to them under the terms of the country's second bailout by 10 years.
They also granted Athens a 10-year grace period on the interest and amortisation payments due on those loans.
"We believe that the debt is now viable, we can have access to the markets now and in a context of surveillance and by continuing our reforms we can pursue this," said Greek finance minister Euclid Tsakalotos.
In parallel, front month Brent crude oil futures were rising by 1.324% to $74.03 a barrel on the ICE, amid speculation that OPEC+ countries were set to decide on a combined output increase of between 0.5m-1.0m barrels a day.
Elsewhere, according to reports in the Spanish Press, Europe Union Finance Commissioner, French Socialist Pierre Moscovici, had reportedly mooted the possibility of relaxing the fiscal targets for the new Socialist government in Madrid.
On the corporate front meanwhile, shares of Airbus were in the spotlight after the civilian and military air and space manufacturer said that a 'no deal' Brexit would result in the "severe disruption and interruption of UK production."
In particular, the Toulouse-based jet-maker said that even a 'transition deal' would prove "too short" for the company to make the "required changes with its extensive supply chain."
To take note of, overnight ratings agency Fitch revised down its outlook for Deutsche Bank's long-term credit rating, from 'stable' to 'negative'.
Also in Germany, Deutsche Telekom subsidiary T-Systems said it was planning 10,000 layoffs.