European stocks rise, eyes on U.S. budget talks; Dax up 0.43%
Published Dec 18, 2012 03:46AM ET
During European morning trade, the EURO STOXX 50 advanced 0.46%, France’s CAC 40 added 0.26%, while Germany’s DAX 30 climbed 0.43%.
Sentiment found support amid hopes U.S. lawmakers will reach an agreement in time to avoid automatic tax hikes and spending cuts due to take effect on January 1 which investors’ fears could derail the U.S. recovery and threaten global growth.
On Monday President Barack Obama made a counter-offer to Republicans that included a major change in position on tax hikes for the wealthy.
But investors remained cautious after ECB President Draghi said that the economic environment in the euro zone was challenging and was likely to remain so for some time to come.
Financial stocks were broadly higher, as shares in French lenders BNP Paribas and Societe Generale climbed 0.78% and 0.51%, while Germany's Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank rallied 2.12% and 1.52% respectively.
Peripheral lenders also posted sharp gains, with Italian banks Unicredit and Intesa Sanpaolo advancing 1.68% and 1.25%, while Spain's BBVA and Banco Santander jumped 1.02% and 1.37%.
Meanwhile, Finnish cellphone company Nokia surged 2.69%, as it was expected to release an update for its Lumia 920 this month.
In London, commodity-heavy FTSE 100 rose 0.26%, boosted by gains in mining stocks.
Mining giants Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton saw shares climb 0.97% and 1.27%, while Evraz jumped 1.18%.
Financial stocks were also mostly higher, as shares in Lloyds Banking rose 0.32% and the Royal Bank of Scotland advanced 0.48%, while Barclays rallied 0.78%. HSBC Holdings underperformed on the other hand, slipping 0.15%.
Elsewhere, Rolls-Royce Holdings advanced 0.81% after signing a contract with Skymark Airlines to supply aircraft engines.
In the U.S., equity markets pointed to a higher open. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a 0.21% rise, S&P 500 futures signaled a 0.27% increase, while the Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a 0.40% gain.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to produce government data on the current account.
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