Yahoo Finance European Shares Continue to Rally with the FTSE Trailing the Pack
European stock markets are mostly moving higher, with DAX and CAC 40 leading the way moving closer to the all-time high. Other Eurozone markets are also moving higher, but the FTSE 100 is down % as the pound gains against the EUR and Gilts outperform, with weak house price data undermining sentiment, while a strong data round in the Eurozone and positive leads from Asia supported Eurozone markets from the open. Japan remained closed for a holiday, but elsewhere robust U.S. jobs data from last Friday helped the Hang Seng to close with a gain of 0.28%, the ASX was up 0.13% and U.S. stock futures are also mostly higher.
Crude prices are up 0.8%, at 61.94 in the front-month WTI futures benchmark, but remain below last Thursday’s major-trend peak at 62.21. The market remains buoyant, with the decline in the U.S. rig count on Friday providing the latest addition to the bullish narrative and put a temporary dent in the argument that U.S. shale production is set to expand notably.
Eurozone Sentix Investor confidence rose to 32.9 in January from 31.3 in the previous month, indicating that the positive mood on stock markets continued at the start of the year. Sentix reported that there was no sign of a loss of momentum across indicators, with even latecomers such as Eastern Europe and Latin America continuing to improve, but Sentix earnings that the broad and synchronous upswing also means that the likelihood of overheating is increasing.
Eurozone Retail Sales Jumped Higher
Eurozone retail sales jumped 1.45% month over month in November, more than compensating for the -1.1% month over month contraction in October and leaving the three months trend rate at 0.5%, up from 0.1% in the three months to October. The national numbers already suggested that the “Black Friday sale” is starting to have a clear impact on spending patterns that partly explains the marked variations between October and November. Still, strong data that ties in with the better than expected ESI economic confidence reading and the marked improvement in consumer confidence in recent months. Labor market data as well as survey numbers suggest ongoing job creation, which together with still low inflation and a gradual rise in wages is underpinning consumption trends.
UK house prices fell 0.6% month over month in December, according to the Halifax house price index, the firstly monthly decline since June last year, while the year over year comparison slowed to 2.7%, slowing from the 6.5% year over year increase that was seen in 2016. A gradual lift in mortgage rates, with average fixed-rate mortgages having risen between 0.1% and 0.2% since September, has dampened property prices in a market that was already stalling in the face of stretched valuations relative to income levels, incomes that have been eroded by inflation in 2017.
This article was originally posted on FX Empire
