At the start of a central bank-heavy week, some better than forecast figures out of China helped lift Europe after the bell.
Though there were a couple of dud numbers – the unemployment rate unexpectedly rose from 5.2% to 5.5%, while fixed asset investment may’ve rebounded strongly, but still fell far short of forecasts – Monday’s Chinese data counted where it mattered most.
Industrial production surged from 7.3% to 35.1%, shooting past the 31.2% forecast. More importantly, retail sales rose from 4.6% to 33.8%, ahead of the 32.0% estimated.
That has helped markets continue to weather the recent movements in bond yields, which saw the yield on United States 10-Year Treasuries hit its highest level in more than a year last Friday. Whether the markets can continue to show this newfound resilience is in part going to be determined by what the Federal Reserve and Bank of England say on the matter this Wednesday and Thursday, respectively.
For now, however, the European markets were content to climb. The FTSE added 0.5%, leaving it 10 points shy of 6,800, while the DAX continued to mosey about the 14,550 mark as it added 0.3%, constantly eyeing a fresh all-time high.
At present the Dow Jones is heading for a 135 point increase this afternoon, one that would put it within 90 points of 33,000.
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