Forex Pros – European stock markets posted sharp gains on Wednesday, as market sentiment was lifted amid a flurry of upbeat earnings reports, while U.S. futures indexes pointed to a higher open on Wall Street.
During European morning trade, the EURO STOXX 50 climbed 1.55%, France’s CAC 40 rose 1.7%, while Germany’s DAX 30 jumped 2%.
Europe’s second largest automaker Peugeot climbed 3.8% after it said first quarter revenue rose 10% to EUR15.4 billion, topping expectations for revenue of EUR14.9 billion. The company reaffirmed its outlook for the year despite supply-chain disruptions following the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
The upbeat results boosted other automakers, with Volkswagen jumping 3%, Daimler shares gained 2.7%, while Renault was up 1.5%.
Shares in the technology sector performed strongly as chip giant Intel reported better-than-expected first quarter earnings after U.S. markets closed on Tuesday.
Europe’s largest semiconductor manufacturer STMicroelectronics saw shares rally 5.35%, Infineon Technologies jumped 3.45%, while U.K.-based ARM Holdings surged 4.2%.
Meanwhile, the world’s largest cosmetics maker L’Oreal advanced 2.8% after it reported a 9.3% increase in first-quarter revenue, as higher sales in its luxury division helped offset a weak consumer environment in Western Europe.
In London, the commodity-heavy FTSE 100 surged 1.8% as shares in miners rallied after metal prices advanced.
The world’s largest mining group BHP Billiton saw shares climb 2.4%, shares in copper producer Xstrata rose 3.1%, while African Barrick Gold jumped 1.8% after gold prices breached the psychologically important USD1,500 level for the first time.
Meanwhile, shares in Europe’s largest banking group HSBC Holdings added 1.85% after Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock to ‘overweight’.
The outlook for U.S. equity markets, meanwhile, was upbeat ahead of earnings reports AT&T and from the fourth-largest U.S. bank Wells-Fargo.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a gain of 0.6%, S&P 500 futures indicated a rise of 0.92%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures added 0.9%.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to publish industry data on existing home sales, as well as a government report on crude oil stockpiles.
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