Last Friday’s big finish from the Dow Jones appears to have allowed the European indices to ignore a 27-year low GDP reading out of China – though the superpower’s data wasn’t all bad.
While the headline growth figure did slip to 6.2% as expected, the fixed asset investment reading narrowly bested estimates, at 5.8% against the 5.6% forecast. Retails sales popped from 8.6% back up to 9.8%; best of all, industrial production rebounded to 6.3% from last month’s alarming 5.0%.
The combination of better than expected data on the undercard, and the idea that the Chinese government could escalate their stimulus plans in order to keep growth the right side of 6%, meant the European indices opened in the green.
The DAX jumped 100 points, crossing 12400 once again, with the CAC nearing 5600 following a 0.5% increase. The FTSE lagged behind, however, only managing to add 0.2%, in part because BP (LON:BP) and Shell (LON:RDSa) were down 0.5% and 0.4% respectively.
As for the Dow Jones, currently the futures have the US index opening at a fresh all-time high of 27400, with only the Empire State manufacturing index coming before the open.
"Disclaimer: Spreadex provides an execution only service and the comments above do not constitute (or should not be construed as constituting) investment advice or recommendations, or a record of our trading prices, or an offer of, or solicitation for, a transaction in any financial instrument. Any person placing trades based on their interpretations of the above comments does so entirely at their own risk. Spreadex Ltd is a financial and sports spread betting and sports fixed odds betting firm, which specialises in the personal service and credit area. Founded in 1999, Spreadex is recognised as one of the longest established spread betting firms in the industry with a strong reputation for its high level of customer service and account management.
In relation to spread betting, Spreadex Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Spread betting carries a high level of risk to your capital and can result in losses larger than your initial stake/deposit. It may not be suitable for everyone, so please ensure you fully understand the risks involved."