French shares also fared well on Thursday, lifting the broader market after Morgan Stanley recommended investors buy the country’s shares ahead of a second round of elections.
The Stoxx 600 index was up 0.4% as of 8:19 a.m. London time, led by banking stocks. Britain’s FTSE 100 index rose 0.5% ahead of a UK general election that is expected to see a landslide victory for the Labour Party. The CAC 40 rose 0.6%.
“The UK election shouldn’t be a problem for the market at all as it’s already priced in, barring any major surprises,” said Diego Fernandez, chief investment officer at A&G Banco. “In France, the market has looked pretty optimistic this week, but we’re prepared to buy on the downside if Sunday’s result leads to further declines.”
The gains also follow a strong closing in the US market, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 hitting new records. Markets are closed today in observance of Independence Day.
Investors will be closely watching U.S. employment data on Friday, with economists expecting nonfarm payrolls to rise by 190,000 in June, down from the previous month, and a possible Fed interest rate cut in September.
European stock gains have been halted by political turmoil following the announcement of a general election in France, with a second round of voting scheduled for Sunday and uncertainty expected to remain for investors. Europe’s major indexes are around 2% away from their all-time highs.
In the UK, today’s election is widely expected to bring the Labour Party to power. Polls close at 10pm, when the official Ipsos exit polls will be published by the BBC, Sky and ITV.
Among individual stocks, German auto parts maker Continental AG jumped after it forecast a slight increase in global car production in the second quarter, while pharmaceutical giant Roche’s shares fell after its antibody drug tiragolumab missed a key target in a clinical trial in lung cancer patients.
For more information on the stock market, please see below.
Want more news about this market? Click here for our First Word channel, a curated summary of actionable news from Bloomberg and other curated sources. Click in the toolbar.[アクション]Click[ヘルプ]You can customize it to your liking by pressing the key to get help. Click here to subscribe to the daily list of European analyst rating changes.
With assistance from Michael Msika.
This article has been generated from an automated news agency feed without any modifications to the text.
