By Peter Nurse
Investing.com - European stock markets pushed higher Thursday, helped by renewed confidence of a stimulus package in the U.S. as well as some upbeat corporate updates.
At 3:40 AM ET (0740 GMT), the DAX in Germany traded 0.8% higher, the CAC 40 in France rose 0.5% and the U.K.'s FTSE index climbed 0.2%.
Wall Street posted strong gains Wednesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing 1.9%, or 530 points, higher, on renewed hopes for a new coronavirus relief package after President Donald Trump rowed back on comments from just a day earlier and said he was in favor of targeted coronavirus aid.
This helped the overall tone early Thursday, before news of a series of potential M&A deals boosted the market.
GVC Holdings (LON:GVC) stock climbed 6.9% after the sports betting and gaming group announced plans to buy Portuguese gambling company Bet.pt, while raising earnings expectations for 2020.
Talk Talk (LON:TALK) stock soared 17% after the telecom group said that Toscafund Asset Management had made a non-binding offer to buy it.
Ratos (ST:RATOb) jumped 8% after U.S. business analytics company Dun & Bradstreet (NYSE:DNB) said it would acquire the Bisnode group from the Swedish private equity firm.
However, the corporate news wasn’t universally positive, as low-cost carrier easyJet (LON:EZJ) said it expects a swing to a pretax loss for fiscal 2020 and that it was canceling dividend payments.
Eyes will turn later in the session to the release of the European Central Bank’s minutes from its last rate-setting meeting.
A second-wave of coronavirus infections, hitting Europe in particular, has resulted in the imposition of more restrictions, prompting fears of a further economic slowdown. With the euro zone’s 750 billion euro recovery fund not expected to yield results until next year, the pressure on the ECB to keep reflating the economy is not going away any time soon.
The weekly U.S. employment data will also garner attention. It’s likely to show the recovery in the world's largest economy losing steam, especially after Friday’s disappointing nonfarm payrolls release.
Economists predict a decline in jobless claims, however, continued claims are expected to remain firmly above 11 million.
Oil prices edged higher Thursday as the approach of Hurricane Delta caused production in many of the rigs in the Gulf of Mexico to be halted. Gains are restrained though, as fuel demand concerns persist with crude oil supplies rising.
The Energy Information Administration data on Wednesday showed crude inventories rose by 501,000 barrels last week, a little larger than expected. Earlier in the week, the private body, the American Petroleum Institute, reported a build in U.S. oil stocks of 951,000 barrels last week.
U.S. crude futures traded 0.9% higher at $40.32 a barrel, while the international benchmark Brent contract rose 1% to $42.41. Both contracts fell over 1.5% on Wednesday.
Elsewhere, gold futures rose 0.2% to $1,894.70/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.1% higher at 1.1765.