In This Article:
The Majors
It was yet another positive week for the European majors, with the CAC40 up by 2.20% to lead the way. The DAX30 wasn’t far behind, rising by 2.06%, while Eurostoxx600 saw a more modest gain of 1.50%.
For the DAX30 and EuroStoxx600, 0.46% and 0.28% losses respectively on Friday pulled back the pair, while the CAC40 ended the day flat.
Corporate earnings and economic data were in focus in the week as was chatter from the U.S and China on trade.
On the trade front, the majors found strong support from news of Beijing and Washington agreeing to rollback some tariffs.
This came off the back of news that Washington was preparing to issue licenses to U.S firms to do business with Huawei Technologies.
Four days in the green out of five delivered the solid gains for the week.
A pullback on Friday came as a result of the news of disagreements within Washington over the removal of tariffs on Chinese goods.
The Stats
It was another busy week on the Eurozone economic calendar.
In a busy first half of the week, October private sector PMIs, Eurozone retail sales figures, and German factory orders were in focus.
On the PMI front, Spain’s manufacturing sector deteriorated further, with the PMI falling from 47.7 to 46.8. The numbers were more upbeat elsewhere, with the French manufacturing PMI rising from 50.5 to 50.7.
In spite of the positive numbers, Italy, Germany, and the Eurozone’s manufacturing PMIs continued to sit at sub-50 levels.
On Wednesday, service sector PMIs were also skewed to the positive. While Spain’s services PMI fell from 53.3 to 52.7, it was positive for the rest of the member states.
The positively skewed numbers led to a rise in the composite PMI from 50.2 to 50.6.
In spite of the positive numbers, the composite PMI remained close to September’s six-and-a-half-year low.
Out of Germany, factory orders rose by 1.3%, reversing a 0.4% decline in August, providing support, with Eurozone retail sales up by 0.1%.
On Thursday, German industrial production figures failed to pin back the European majors, in spite of a 0.6% decline. The upbeat factory order numbers pointed to a pickup in industrial production at the start of the 4th quarter.
German trade data wrapped things up on Friday. A widening in the trade surplus from €18.1bn to €19.2bn failed to make it a 6th consecutive day in the green for the DAX.
The Market Movers
From the DAX, it was a bullish week for the auto sector. BMW led the way for the week once more, rallying by 8.05. Volkswagen and Continental also saw solid gains, rising by 5.22% and 6.94% respectively. Daimler trailed the pack in the week, rising by just 1.52%.