Europe open: Stocks start week on a positive note, US-China trade in focus
Wirecard AG
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07:46 20/03/24
Stockmarkets on the Continent have begun the morning trading mostly higher, tracking the strong gains seen on Wall Street last Friday, amid 'dovish' remarks from some top European Central Bank officials.
Key to the generally positive tone to European Markets early in the session, following briefings from his trade negotiation team, on Saturday US President Donald Trump said talks with Beijing over the preceding week had been "very productive".
There was also some 'market chatter' that Washington and Beijing were working on some sort of memorandum of understanding, with Trump having reportedly held out the possibility that US tarrifs on Chinese goods might not be headed higher after 1 March.
"Trade is once again the big focus as the new week kicks off. Trade optimism lifted Asian markets overnight as trade talks are set to continue for a second week. Talks will kick off in Washington after both sides cited progress in the negotiations from the previous week," said LCG's Head of Research, Jasper Lawler.
On a more discordant note, pressure from US vice-president Mike Pence at the Munich Security Conference, over the weekend, for Europe to put more pressure on Iran, appeared to trigger some 'push back'.
Against that backdrop, as of 0924 GMT, the benchmark Stoxx 600 was edging up by 0.09% to 369.29, alongside a 0.36% advance for Milan's FTSE Mibtel to 20,287.62 and a gain of 0.05% to 5,155.76 for the Cac-40.
In parallel, front month Brent crude oil futures were higher by 0.645% to $66.59 a barrel on the ICE and at three-month highs.
Euro/dollar on the other hand was little changed, drifting up by 0.06% to 1.13045.
Also boosting sentiment perhaps, in an interview with Spain's El Pais, on Sunday, French European Central Bank Governing Council member, Francois Villeroy de Galhau, said that the slowdown observed thus far in the Continent's economy had been "significant".
Should slower growth not be "temporary" then the GC might shift its guidance on interest rates, he reportedly said.
No major economic releases were scheduled for release in the Eurozone on Monday.
On the corporate side of things, shares of German payments processing outfit Wirecard were higher after the country's financial market regulator banned short positions in the company's stock.