European stocks jumped on Wednesday

Jumping man

Reuters/Leonhard Foegher

European stocks had a strong day on Wednesday with all of the continent's major bourses ending trading in positive territory.

Gains on Wednesday came despite a relatively weak session in the Asian markets, and ahead of a crucial meeting of OPEC members in Algeria, when the world's big oil producers could decide to freeze production, addressing one of the biggest issues in the oil markets right now.

Stocks right across Europe performed strongly with all major indexes closing more than 0.5% higher. Stocks had jumped over 1% almost across the board earlier in the day, but pared their gains to the close.

The strongest performer on the day was France's blue-chip CAC 40, up just shy of 0.8%, driven higher by a strong showing from auto manufacturer Peugeot. Here is how the CAC looked at the close:

Screen Shot 2016 09 28 at 16.39.11

Reuters/Leonhard Foegher

Britain's FTSE 100 also performed strongly, finishing higher by 0.63% to close at 6,850 points. Despite this gain, the FTSE was largely outperformed by its cross-channel counterparts. The best performing single share on the day was TV and internet provider Sky, up more than 4%.

Here is the chart:

Screen Shot 2016 09 28 at 16.43.03

Reuters/Leonhard Foegher

As Mike van Dulken of Accendo Markets noted in his morning email, the day's gains "come after a largely negative session in Asia contrasts with a positive stateside finish, appetite for risk having moved on from the US Presidential debate and back focusing on the woes of Deutsche Bank and the Oil meeting Algiers. Sentiment flat thanks to oil off its lows, but expectations rather low that anything concrete will come of this week’s informal meeting and that we will have to wait for OPEC’s formal meeting November."

There are fears in the markets that the risks surrounding Germany's biggest lender, Deutsche Bank, may be beginning to crystallise following the announcement of a $14 billion fine from the US Department of Justice earlier in September. The bank faces billions in legal costs and settlements with US authorities over an investigation into sales of mortgage-backed securities, which would leave the bank seriously undercapitalised. 

As a result, Deutsche's stock dropped to a record low on Monday, falling below €10.50 per share for the first time in its history. Since then, however, it has rebounded a little, and during morning trading on Wednesday shares were up as much as 3% to €10.87.

Deutsche's gain on Wednesday was helped by confirmation that it has sold Abbey Life Assurance to Phoenix Group, something that the bank says will have "a net positive" impact on its capital position. 

There are also rumours circulating, thanks to a report from German newspaper Die Zeit, that the German government may be preparing a bailout for the bank, although the Finance Ministry flatly denied that suggestion earlier in the day. That denial has helped pushed Deutsche shares marginally lower than where they were in early trade, and the bank finished up by around 2.2%

 Here is the chart of DB's performance on Wednesday:

Screen Shot 2016 09 28 at 16.44.04

Reuters/Leonhard Foegher

Elsewhere in the markets, gains were broadly in the 0.5% to 1% range.

Screen Shot 2016 09 28 at 16.45.25

Reuters/Leonhard FoegherHere's the scoreboard for Europe:

 

See Also:

• Deutsche Bank rode a rollercoaster on Wednesday

• ROLLERCOASTER: European stocks yo-yoed into the weekend

• REPORT: Deutsche Bank is close to a $5.4 billion settlement with the US government

SEE ALSO: RBS is paying $1.1 billion to settle 'toxic' mortgage mis-selling claims in the US