European Equities: Private Sector PMIs and Consumer Confidence in Focus

The Majors

It was relatively bullish day for the European majors on Friday, with the majors reversing losses from early in the session.

The DAX30 rose by 0.27%, with the CAC40 and the EuroStoxx600 seeing gains of 0.31% and 0.33% respectively.

A quiet economic calendar allowed the markets to hit pause on the pullback through the week.

Apprehension ahead of next week’s Jackson Hole Symposium and concerns over the Delta variant pegged the majors back, however.

The Stats

In July, Germany’s producer price index for industrial products rose by 1.9% versus a forecasted 0.8% increase. The index had risen by 1.3% in June.

According to Destatis,

• Compared with July 2020, the index was up by 10.4%.
• This was the highest increase compared to the corresponding month of the preceding year since January 1975.
• Increases inn prices of intermediate products and energy drove the index northwards.
• Prices of intermediate goods increased 15.6% compared with July 2020 and by 2.3% month-on-month.
• Energy prices as a whole increased by 20.4% compared with July 2020 and by 4.1% compared with June 2021.

From the U.S

There were no major stats to provide the European majors with direction late in the day.

The Market Movers

For the DAX: It was a mixed day for the auto sector on Friday. Daimler rose by 0.39% to buck the trend on the day. BMW and Continental fell by 0.30% and by 0.22% respectively, however, with Volkswagen ending the day down by 1.09%.

It was a bearish day for the banks. Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank ended the day with losses of 0.38% and 0.37% respectively.

From the CAC, it was a relatively bullish day for the banks. BNP Paribas rose by 0.37%, with Soc Gen and Credit Agricole ending the day up by 0.02% and by 0.17% respectively.

It was another day in the red for the French auto sector, however. Stellantis NV and Renault fell by 1.15% and by 1.13% respectively.

Air France-KLM declined by 1.26%, while Airbus SE rose by 0.40%.

On the VIX Index

It was back into the red for the VIX on Friday, ending a 4-day winning streak.

Reversing a 0.46% gain from Thursday, the VIX slid by 14.35% to end the day at 18.56.

The NASDAQ rose by 1.19%, with the Dow and the S&P500 seeing gains of 0.65% and by 0.81% respectively.