European Equities German Trade and Italian Industrial Production in Focus

The Majors

It was a relatively bullish start to the week for the European majors on Monday. The CAC40 and EuroStoxx600 rose by 0.47% and by 0.30% respectively, with the DAX30 eking out a 0.02% gain.

At the open, the DAX30 had hit a record high 14,169.49 before hitting reverse in response to disappointing production figures.

Market hopes of a speedier economic recovery, however, continued to prop up the majors.

The Stats

It was a relatively quiet day on the economic calendar. Key stats included German industrial production figures for December.

In December, industrial production stalled, following a 1.5% increase in the month of November. Economists had forecast a 0.3% rise.

According to Destatis,

• Production in industry excluding energy and construction was up by 0.9%.
• Within industry, the production of intermediate goods rose by 2.0%, with the production of consumer goods up by 2.6%. The production of capital goods fell by 0.5%.
• Outside industry, energy production was down by 2.9%, while production in construction was up by 3.2%.
• Industrial production fell by 1.0% on the same month a year earlier.
• Compared with February 2020, the month before restrictions were imposed, production was 3.6% lower.
• In 2020, production in industry was 8.5% lower than in the previous year.

From the U.S

There were no material stats to provide the European majors with direction late in the European session.

The Market Movers

For the DAX: It was another mixed day for the auto sector on Monday. Volkswagen rose by 0.96%, with Continental gaining a modest 0.08%. BMW and Daimler ended the day with losses of 0.37% and 0.39% respectively, however.

It was a mixed day for the banks. Deutsche Bank rallied by 2.46%, while Commerzbank slipped by 0.60%.

From the CAC, it was another bullish day for the banks. BNP Paribas rose by 1.20%, with Credit Agricole and Soc Gen gaining 0.84% and 0.66% respectively.

It was also a bullish day for the French auto sector. Stellantis NV rallied by 1.80%, with Renault gaining 0.20%.

Air France-KLM and Airbus SE also found support, rising by 0.80% and by 0.48% respectively.

On the VIX Index

A run of 5 consecutive days in the red came to an end for the VIX on Monday. Partially reversing a 4.13% fall from Friday, the VIX rose by 1.77 % to end the day at 21.24.

The Dow and the S&P500 rose by 0.76% and by 0.74% respectively, with NASDAQ gaining by 0.95%.

For the U.S equity markets, Monday’s gains delivered a 6^th consecutive day in the green for both the Dow and the S&P500.

There were no stats from the U.S to consider, leaving stimulus fueled optimism to support the majors.