European Markets Close On Buoyant Note On Vaccine Hopes, Strong Economic Data

(RTTNews) - European markets ended higher on Thursday amid continued optimism about a potential coronavirus vaccine, and on encouraging economic data from across the globe.

Uncertainty about Brexit, and surging coronavirus cases weighed, but investors largely shrugged off these negative factors and kept picking up stocks.

According to reports, an early-stage human trial of a vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech showed creation of neutralizing antibodies.

Encouraging jobs data from the U.S. that said non-farm payroll employment skyrocketed by 4.8 million jobs in June after soaring by an upwardly revised 2.7 million jobs in May further bolstered sentiment. Economists had expected employment to surge up by about 3.0 million jobs compared to the spike of 2.5 million jobs originally reported for the previous month.

The Labor Department also said the unemployment rate dropped to 11.1% in June from 13.3% in May. The unemployment rate had been expected to dip to 12.3%.

The pan European Stoxx 600 surged up 1.97%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 1.34%, while Germany's DAX climbed up 2.84% and France's CAC 40 advanced 2.49%. Switzerland's SMI ended nearly 1% up.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Turkey gained 1 to 3.5%.

Norway closed modestly higher, while Iceland edged up marginally.

In the U.K. market, Meggitt shares surged up more than 6% after the company said it is experiencing initial signs of recovery in commercial aerospace. Associated British Foods rose nearly 5% after saying that trading in its stores that have reopened after coronavirus lockdown has been "reassuring and encouraging".

IAG, Royal Bank, HSBC Holdings, Whitbread, JD Sports Fashion, TUI, Barclays, Melrose, Lloyds Banking and Standard Life gained 3 to 5%. Evraz, Anglo American, CRH, Hargreaves Lansdown, Legal & General and Schrodders moved up 2.4 to 3%.

On the other hand, Ds Smith tumbled more than 7% and National Grid declined 5%, while Smurfit Kappa Group and Coca-Cola lost 4% and 2%, respectively.

In the German market, Thyssenkrupp rallied 5.7%. RWE, Continental, Adidas, Daimler, Linde, Fresenius, BASF, E.ON, BMW, Allianz, SAP, Volkswagen, Siemens and Deutsche Bank moved up 2.5 to 4.5%.

Wirecard plunged more than 33%. According to reports, police and prosecutors have raided the headquarters of the beleaguered payments firm as part of a fraud investigation relating to its £1.7bn accounting black hole.

In France, Valeo, Societe Generale, BNP Paribas and ArcelorMittal gained 5 to 5.5%. Bouygues, Renault, Credit Agricole, Accor, Michelin, Vivendi, Peugeot, Airbus and Vinci ended stronger by 3 to 4.8%.

Engie shares rose sharply after the company agreed to sell 49% equity interest in a 2.3 GW US renewables portfolio to Hannon Armstrong. Engie will retain a controlling share in the portfolio and continue to manage the assets.

In economic news, despite a deep recession, the euro area jobless rate rose only marginally in May as the short-time work programs of member countries to support jobs amid the downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic suppressed actual unemployment.

The unemployment rate climbed to 7.4% in May from 7.3% in April, data released by Eurostat showed. In the same period last year, the jobless rate was 7.6%. However, the unemployment rate was below the economists' forecast of 7.7%.

The unemployment rate among the euro area youth aged below 25 increased to 16% in May from 15.7% in April.

Data released by Spain's labor ministry showed that unemployed rose by 5,107 or 0.1% from the previous month, which was the first increase in June since 2008.

Germany's unemployment also increased at a much slower pace in June due to the short-time work program. Unemployment increased by 69,000 in June, official data showed.

Eurozone producer prices decreased 5% on a yearly basis in May, following a 4.5% decline in April, data from Eurostat showed. Economists had expected a fall of 4.8%.

Switzerland's consumer prices declined for the fifth straight month in June, data from the Federal Statistical Office showed. The consumer price index decreased 1.3% year-on-year in June, the same rate of decline as seen in May. Economists had expected a 1.2% fall.

On a monthly basis, consumer prices remained unchanged again in June, while economists forecast a 0.1% rise.