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European Equities: It’s A Busy Economic Calendar With GDP Figures in Focus

By:
Bob Mason
Published: Apr 29, 2021, 23:08 UTC

It's a busy day ahead on the economic calendar. Following disappointing numbers from Germany on Thursday, GDP figures for Q1 are in focus.

equity index tags with prices, red and green colors

In this article:

Economic Calendar:

Friday, 30th April 2021

French GDP (QoQ) (Q1)

German GDP (QoQ) (Q1)

German GDP (YoY) (Q1)

Spanish GDP (QoQ) (Q1)

Italian CPI (MoM) (Apr) Prelim

Eurozone CPI (YoY) (Apr) Prelim

Eurozone Unemployment Rate (Mar)

Eurozone GDP (QoQ) (Q1)

Eurozone GDP (YoY) (Q1)

The Majors

It was a relatively bearish day for the European majors on Thursday. The DAX30 fell by 0.90%, with the CAC40 and the EuroStoxx600 seeing losses of 0.07% and 0.26% respectively.

Economic data from the U.S failed to prevent a pullback from early gains, with stats from Germany disappointing.

The downside came amidst positive earnings results from both side of the Atlantic. From the Eurozone, Airbus returned to profit, with Total SE beating estimates.

The Stats

It was a busier day on the economic calendar on Thursday. The German economy was back in focus, with unemployment and inflation figures the key stats of the day.

Prelim April inflation figures from Spain and finalized consumer confidence figures from the Eurozone were also out. The stats had a muted impact on the European majors.

German Unemployment

In April, unemployment increased by 9k, reversing a 6k decline from March. Economists had forecast a 10k decline.

While unemployment rose in the month, the unemployment rate held steady at 6.0%.

German Inflation

In April, consumer prices rose by 0.7% month-on-month, according to prelim figures. In March, consumer prices had risen by 0.5%.

According to Destatis,

  • The annual rate of inflation ticked up from 1.7% to 2.0%.
  • Prices for goods increased by 2.6% compared with the same month a year earlier.
  • Energy prices were up by 7.9%, with food prices up by 1.6%.
  • Prices for services were up by 1.6%.

From the U.S

GDP and the weekly jobless claim figures were in focus.

In the 1st quarter, the U.S economy expanded by 6.4%, following 4.3% growth in the 4th quarter of last year. Economists had forecast growth of 6.1%.

Jobless claim figures were also positive for riskier assets. In the week ending 23rd April, initial jobless claims fell from 566k to 553k. This was marginally higher than a forecast of 549k.

The Market Movers

For the DAX: It was a bearish day for the auto sector on Thursday. Continental and Volkswagen slid by 4.07% and by 3.15% respectively. BMW and Daimler ended the day with losses of 2.09% and 1.68% on the day.

It was another bullish day for the banks, however. Deutsche Bank rallied by 3.54 %, with Commerzbank gaining by 2.12%.

From the CAC, it was a relatively bullish day for the banks. Soc Gen rose by 0.89%, with BNP Paribas and Credit Agricole gaining 0.65% and 0.71% respectively.

It was a bearish day for the French auto sector. Stellantis NV and Renault slid by 3.81% and by 4.19% respectively.

Air France-KLM ended the day flat, while Airbus SE gained 0.70%.

On the VIX Index

It was back into the green for the VIX on Thursday.

Reversing a 1.59% fall from Wednesday, the VIX rose by 1.91% to end the day at 17.61.

The Dow and the S&P500 rose by 0.71% and by 0.68% respectively, with the NASDAQ ending the day up by 0.22%.

VIX 300421 Daily Chart

The Day Ahead

It’s a busy day ahead on the European economic calendar. 1st quarter GDP numbers for France, Germany, and the Eurozone will be in focus early in the session.

With the markets expecting restrictions in the quarter to have weighed on growth, we can expect plenty of interest in the numbers.

Other stats include prelim inflation figures for France, Italy, and the Eurozone and the March unemployment rate for the Eurozone.

From the U.S, personal spending and inflation figures will also influence later in the day. Following the FED’s assurances of unwavering support, however, a pickup in inflationary pressure should have limited impact on riskier assets.

On the corporate earnings front, Chevron Corp is scheduled to release earnings today…

The Futures

In the futures markets, at the time of writing, the Dow Mini was down by 28 points.

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

About the Author

Bob Masonauthor

With over 20 years of experience in the finance industry, Bob has been managing regional teams across Europe and Asia and focusing on analytics across both corporate and financial institutions. Currently he is covering developments relating to the financial markets, including currencies, commodities, alternative asset classes, and global equities.

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