European Stocks Gain, US Futures Rise After Solid China Economic Assessment
Frankfurt (Oct 16) European stocks climbed past a four month high Monday and Wall Street futures pushing into the green after another solid assessment of economic growth in China boost global markets even as political developments around the region kept investors cautious.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index was marked 0.2% higher at 392.20 in the opening two hours of trading, taking the region's broadest measure of share prices to the highest level since June 2. Germany's DAX performance index was one of the standout regional markets, rising 0.21% and holding past the 13,000 mark in Frankfurt with bank and healthcare stocks leading advancers.
Early indications from U.S. equity futures suggest a small set of gains for Wall Street at the opening bell, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average marked 19 points, or 0.08% higher and the S&P 500 likely to add around 1.75 points, or 0.07%, when trading kicks off later in the session.
Spanish stocks, however, were a notable exception, with the IBEX 35 index falling 0.5% after after Catalan President Carles Puigdemont called for dialogue with Madrid and repeated the validity of his government's mandate for independence in a letter to Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, possibly paving the way Madrid to assume control of the country's most important economic region.
Rajoy had given Puigdemont a deadline of 10:00 am local time Monday to clarify the Catalan government's stance on separation from Spain, which Puigdemont claimed had been mandated by the results of a disputed Oct. 1 referendum that was marred by police violence and accusations of voter irregularity.
The European single currency was also weaker following the statement and was marked 0.27% lower from Friday's close against the U.S. dollar at 1.1788 owing to both the brewing situation in Catalonia as well as the Sunday election in the German state of Lower Saxony, which saw Chancellor Angela Merkel's CDU party suffer its biggest loss since 1959, throwing coalition government talks with rival parties further into confusion.
TheStreet
