European Equities: Eurozone Trade Data and U.S Consumer Sentiment in Focus

Across the Eurozone, industrial production fell by 0.3% in June, month-on-month, following a 1.1% decline in May. Economists had forecast for production to stall at the end of the quarter.

According to Eurostat,

• Production of capital goods fell by 1.5% and energy by 0.6%.
• There were increases in production of durable consumer goods (+0.1%) and intermediate goods (+0.1%).
• Non-durable goods production led the way, however, surging by 1.6%.
• Among the member states, Ireland reported the largest fall (-4.4%) followed by Portugal (-2.6%).
• Malta (+5.2%), the Netherlands (+3.3%), and Estonia (+3.2%) registered the largest increases, however.
• Compared with June 2020, production was up 9.7%, softening from a 20.6% jump in May.

From the U.S

It was another relatively quiet but important day on the economic calendar.

Wholesale inflation and weekly jobless claims figures were in focus later in the European session.

In July, the producer price index rose by 1.0%, following a 1.0% increase in June. Economists had forecast a 0.7% increase.

More significantly, however, was a modest fall in initial jobless claims from 387k to 375k in the week ending 6^th August. Economists had forecast a fall to 365k.

The Market Movers

For the DAX: It was a bullish day for the auto sector on Thursday. BMW and Volkswagen rallied by 1.34% and by 1.52% respectively, with Daimler up by 1.16%. Continental saw a more modest gain of 0.41%.

It was a bearish day for the banks, however. Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank ended the day with losses of 0.59% and 0.22% respectively.

From the CAC, it was a bearish day for the banks. BNP Paribas fell by 0.82%, with Credit Agricole and Soc Gen ending the day down by 0.67% and 0.60% respectively.

It a mixed day for the French auto sector. Stellantis NV rallied by 2.66%, while Renault slipped by 0.04%.

Air France-KLM and Airbus SE ended the day with losses of 0.71% and 0.36% respectively.

On the VIX Index

It was a 2^nd consecutive day in the red for the VIX on Thursday.

Following a 4.35% decline on Wednesday, the VIX fell by 2.93% to end the day at 15.59.

The Dow rose by 0.04%, with the NASDAQ and the S&P500 ending the day up by 0.35% and by 0.30% respectively.

The Day Ahead

It’s a busier day ahead on the Eurozone’s economic calendar. Trade data for the Eurozone will be out later today. With little else for the markets to consider, expect some influence from the numbers.

Wholesale inflation figures from Germany and finalized inflation figures from France are also due out. We don’t expect the numbers to have a material impact on the majors, however.

From the U.S, consumer sentiment figures for August will also draw interest.

On the monetary policy front, expect any central bank chatter to also influence.

The Futures

In the futures markets, at the time of writing, the Dow Mini was up by 16 points, with the DAX up by 3.

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