European Equities: FOMC Meeting Minutes and U.S Stats in Focus

• The production of capital goods rose by 2.6%, intermediate goods by 0.5%, and non-durable consumer goods by 0.4%.
• There falls in the production of durable consumer goods (-0.3%) and energy (-0.8%), however.
• Ireland registered the largest increase in production (+10.3%), followed by Lithuania (+6.2%) and Luxembourg (+5.1%).
• By contrast, Austria (-1.1%) and Italy (-1.0%) recorded the largest monthly declines.
• Year-on-year, industrial production increased by 1.6%, with Lithuania (+33.3%) reporting the largest increase.

From the U.S

In January, retail sales jumped by 3.8%, reversing a 2.5% decline from December. Core retail sales increased by 3.3%, reversing a 2.8% slide from the previous month. Economists had forecast increases of 2.0% and 0.8% respectively.

The Market Movers

For the DAX: It was a mixed day for the auto sector on Wednesday. Daimler rose by a modest 0.58% to buck the trend. Continental tumbled by 4.68%, however, with BMW and Volkswagen falling by 0.93% and 1.16% respectively.

It was a bearish day for the banks. Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank ended the day down by 0.96% and by 1.45% respectively.

From the CAC, it was a bearish day for the banks. BNP Paribas and Credit Agricole declined by 1.23% and by 1.64% respectively, with Soc Gen ending the day with a 1.77% loss.

The French auto sector had another bullish session. Stellantis NV and Renault ended the day with gains of 1.58% and 2.52% respectively.

Air France-KLM rose by 2.22%, while Airbus SE slipped by 0.44%.

On the VIX Index

It was a second consecutive day in the red for the VIX on the Wednesday.

Following a 9.28% slide on Tuesday, the VIX fell by 5.49% to end the day at 24.29.

The S&P500 rose by 0.09%, while the Dow and the NASDAQ saw modest losses of 0.16% and 0.11% respectively.

The Day Ahead

For the day ahead, there are no major stats due out of the Eurozone to provide the European markets with direction. Through the early part of the European session, the lack of stats will leave the markets to respond to the overnight FOMC meeting minutes.

Later in the day, economic data from the U.S will provide direction, with jobless claims and Philly FED Manufacturing data in focus.

Away from the economic calendar, geopolitics will remain an area of focus, with the threat of a Russian invasion of the Ukraine yet to be fully eliminated.

The Futures

In the futures markets, at the time of writing, the Dow Mini was up by 33 points.

For a look at all of today’s economic events, check out our economic calendar.