It was a relatively bullish end of the week for the European majors on Friday The CAC40 and DAX30 rose 079% and 077%, with the EuroStoxx600 rising 0.53%
It was a busy day on the economic calendar on Friday, with tentative private sector PMI figures for France, Germany and the Eurozone taking center stage
In February, the French manufacturing purchasing managers’ index rose from 51 to 516 to a 3-year high 550 economists had forecast a decline to 514
The Services PMI declined from 473 to a 3-month low of 436, causing the French composite PMI to fall from 477 to a 3-month low of 452
German manufacturing activity spiked in February and the preliminary manufacturing PMI rose from 571 to a 36-month high 606 economists had forecast a decline to 565
Problems in the services sector continued, however, as the services PMI fell from 467 to 9 month low 45.9
As a result of the spike in the manufacturing PMI, the composite PMI rose from 508 to a 2 month high of 513
For the euro area, the manufacturing PMI rose from 548 to 577 while the services PMI fell from 454 to 447
The composite PMI for the euro area rose from 478 to 481, helped by the recovery in manufacturing activity
Key stats also included preliminary PMI numbers for the private sector for February It was also a mixed series of numbers from the U.S.
In February, the PMI for all major services rose 583-589 while the manufacturing PMI slipped 592-585. Supported by the services sector, the composite PMI rose 587-588 for the month
For the DAX: It was another mixed day for the automotive sector on Friday BMW and Volkswagen rose 052% and 157%, while Continental and Daimler fell 1 52% and 0 15% each
However, it was a bullish day for Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank, rebounding 378% and 318%, respectively
From the CAC, it was a bullish day for banks BNP Paribas and Credit Agricole, up 266% and 263%, respectively, with Soc Gen up 378%
However, it was a mixed day for the French automotive sector Stellantis NV rose 081% while Renault slipped 443% Disappointing corporate results weighed on Renault that day
Air France-KLM was up 3 to 91%, with Airbus SE rising 0.53% to partially reverse the decline on Thursday
A run of three consecutive days in the green ended for the VIX on Friday Partially reversing a 460% increase from Thursday, the VIX fell 196% to end the day at 2205
The NASDAQ rose 007% with the Dow ending the day flat. The S&P500 fell 019% on the day
It’s a relatively busy day on the European economic calendar. February business confidence figures for Germany will be announced later this morning
After impressive manufacturing PMI numbers from Friday, a recovery in business confidence should provide further support for the majors
From the US, there are no material statistics later in the day to give instructions to the majors
The lack of statistics from the US will leave the majors in the hands of Capitol Hill chatter later in the day
On the futures markets, the Dow Mini is up 7 points at the time of writing
US dollar, share
News – US – European shares: German business confidence in focus
Associated title :
– European equities: Focus on German business confidence
– Stock Market Today – Dollar Falls Broadly on Persistent Risk Sentiment: Feb. 22 February 2021
Source: https://www.fxempire.com/forecasts/article/european-equities-german-business-confidence-in-focus-701761
