(ABM FN-Dow Jones) European stocks are set to open slightly higher on Monday.
IG forecasts an opening gain of 3 points for the German DAX, a plus of 10 points for the French CAC 40 and a rise of 4 points for the British FTSE 100.
Stock markets in Europe ended higher on Friday.
Market analyst Michael Hewson of CMC Markets pointed to new highs for the German DAX and Stoxx 600, while the UK’s FTSE 100 hit its highest level in nearly two years.
The US jobs report for October turned out to be stronger than expected. Positive news about a corona pill from Pfizer was also welcomed by investors. Hewson saw that stocks in the travel and aviation sector responded well to this.
On a macro-economic level, attention was paid to production figures from Germany. September saw an unexpected drop. Eurozone retail sales in the same month also fell unexpectedly.
Company news
Shares of airlines rose on positive corona news from Pfizer. Air France-KLM rose about 5 percent and Deutsche Lufthansa 6 percent. Easyjet and Tui also won 6 percent.
Corona vaccine manufacturer AstraZeneca fell almost 1.5 percent.
In Frankfurt, Airbus and MTU Aero Engines did good business, with gains of 4.5 to 6.5 percent. Sartorius lost nearly 8 percent and Merck KgaA fell 6.5 percent.
In Paris, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield led the way with a 5 percent gain. Teleperformance lost just 5 percent.
Euro STOXX 50 4,357.45 (+0.6%)
STOXX Europe 600 483,44 (+0,1%)
DAX 16.054,36 (+0,2%)
CAC 40 7,040.79 (+0.8%)
FTSE 100 7,303.96 (+ 0.3%)
SMI 12,321.85 (-0.7%)
AEX 819,72 (-0,1%)
BEL 20 4,385.57 (-0.4%)
FTSE MIB 27.795.93 (+1,0%)
IBEX 35 9.130,60 (+1,0%)
US EQUITIES
Wall Street opens lower Monday, according to US futures.
US stocks closed Friday with new records. On a weekly basis, the three indices rose to 3 percent in New York.
Most attention was paid to the US jobs report. In October, 531,000 jobs were added in the United States, which was estimated at 450,000. Unemployment fell to 4.6 percent, while the employment rate remained unchanged at 61.6 percent. Average hourly wages rose $0.11 to $30.96 last month. There were also strong upward revisions to job growth in August and September. On balance, 235,000 more jobs were created in those two months than initially reported.
“The report looks really neat and better than expected, with growth across the board in all sectors,” said Rabobank market analyst Philip Marey.
“It’s clear that the US economy is in very good shape,” said AvaTrade market analyst Naeem Aslam.
Last week, the Federal Reserve announced that it will begin phasing out its monthly asset purchase program this month. The strong jobs report seems to justify the Fed’s taper plans.
Positive news about a Pfizer corona pill was also welcomed by investors. Mizuho analysts said the news was positive for Pfizer’s long-term growth and dismissed concerns that an antiviral vaccine could compete with the company’s vaccine.
Market sentiment in general is also still getting a boost from the strong earnings season. With nearly 90 percent of companies in the S&P 500 having released their results, some 82 percent of earnings are better than analysts had expected.
Renewed concerns about Chinese real estate developers only limited the minds of investors on Friday. Trading in Kaisa shares was halted in Hong Kong and Shanghai because the project developer missed a payment term. IG analysts point out that investors are also watching to see if China Evergrande meets its redemption deadline.
Oil prices rose on Friday after several days of declines. At a settlement of $81.27, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate became more than 3 percent more expensive. On a weekly basis, WTI lost nearly 3 percent and the Brent oil price fell one percent.
Oil prices came under pressure last week over reports that the United States plans to use its strategic reserves to increase supply and drive prices down. According to analysts at BOK Financial, this could lead to a further correction, but fundamentally there is still a bull market.
According to Rystad analysts, the latter has to do with the fact that OPEC+ is in no rush to ramp up production faster.
Company news
A potential corona pill from Pfizer on Friday sharply lowers the shares of several vaccine manufacturers. The biggest blows fell to Moderna and Pfizer’s partner BioNTech, who lost 15 to 20 percent. Novavax fell 11 percent and Regeneron a still somewhat modest 6 percent.
Pfizer’s corona treatment reduces the risk of serious forms of corona by 89 percent, where Merck previously reported that the effectiveness of its pill is 50 percent. Pfizer rose nearly 11 percent, while Merck fell about 10 percent.
Uber Technologies has achieved some form of profitability for the first time since its inception more than a decade ago, thanks to a recovery in ride numbers and strong meal delivery performance. The stock gained more than 4 percent.
Boeing’s current and former executives have reached a settlement of approximately $225 million in a lawsuit accusing the board of failing to properly oversee safety issues surrounding the 737 MAX. The stock rose more than 5 percent.
Lions Gate Entertainment is considering splitting or possibly even selling Starz premium. The stock gained more than 22 percent.
GoPro posted higher sales and profits in the past quarter. CEO Nicholas Woodman spoke of an excellent third quarter. Shares of GoPro rose nearly 8 percent on Friday.
Airbnb has had a very good third quarter with record revenue. Revenue rose 67 percent to more than $2.2 billion. This yielded a profit of $834 million, the highest profit ever and almost four times more than in the third quarter of 2020. The stock closed 13 percent higher.
Shares of Workhorse, maker of electric vans, fell more than 9 percent on Friday after it was announced that the US Department of Justice is investigating the company. It is not clear what the investigation will focus on. Sector colleague Nikola, which is also under investigation by regulators, lost about 15 percent.
McAfee rose about 20 percent on Friday after reports that private equity firm Advent International is willing to pay about $10 billion for the maker of security software.
Kroger would start accepting Bitcoin Cash during the holiday season, according to a press release sent via PRNewswire and also on Kroger’s website for a while. The message has since been removed by Kroger from its own website and the supermarket chain has announced that it is a false press release.
A few weeks ago there was already a press release that Walmart would have started a collaboration with Litecoin. However, this message also turned out to be false. Both Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash rose after the news, but then fell just as hard when it became clear that the messages were fake.
S&P 500 index 4.697,53 (+0,4%)
Dow Jones index 36.327,95 (+0,6%)
Nasdaq Composite 15.971,59 (+0,2%)
ASIA
Asian stocks were divided on Monday.
Nikkei 225 29,540,93 (-0,2%)
Shanghai Composite 3.502,01(+0,3%)
Hang Seng 24,766.82 (-0.4%)
EVALUATE
The euro/dollar was trading at 1.1561 this morning. When the US markets closed on Friday, the currency pair moved at 1.1565.
USD/JPY Yen 113,56
EUR/USD Euro 1,1561
EUR/JPY Yen 131,29
MACRO-AGENDA:
– No agenda items
COMPANY NEWS:
07:00 PostNL – Third quarter figures
22:00 AMC Entertainment – US Third Quarter Figures
22:00 PayPal – Third Quarter Figures (US)
Bron: ABM Financial News
From Beursplein 5, the editors of ABM Financial News keep a close eye on developments on the stock exchanges, and the Amsterdam stock exchange in particular. The information in this column is not intended as professional investment advice or as a recommendation to make certain investments.
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