Paris closed up 0.89%. Milan stood out with an increase of 1.47%.
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European stock markets signed another session in the green on Thursday, helped by the sharp recovery in oil prices and hopes for coordinated European support, despite encouraging macroeconomic indicators.
The Parisian flagship index, the CAC 40, gained 0.89%.
On the other European places, London gained 0.97%, Frankfurt 0.95%, Milan 1.47% and Madrid 0.40%.
“The stock markets are again influenced by oil”, whose sharp recovery “has made investors more optimistic in their prospects,” said in a note David Madden, an analyst at CMC Markets.
If the Parisian index benefited at the start of the session from the positive momentum caused by the rebound in oil prices, it was then reinforced in its rise by the American indices, which, for their part, benefited from figures for listings in the unemployment down, even at historically high levels.
The sharp rise in the price of a barrel – which fell to historically low levels at the start of the week – also brought relief, although tinged with caution, as this recovery appeared to be linked to the escalation of tensions between Iran and the United States.
This is a “readjustment”, but which “is not sustainable because there is no reason for oil to start to rise sharply” and its prices will remain “relatively low for the moment”, thus judges AFP Frédéric Rozier, portfolio manager at Mirabaud France.
Investors were also hanging from the summit of European leaders, which started shortly after 1:00 p.m. GMT, to find solutions to lift the European Union out of the coronavirus recession.
European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde warned EU leaders at the opening of the summit against the risk of “acting too little, too late” in the face of the economic consequences of the pandemic, according to a close source. discussions.
“The measures that will be announced may be likely to protect us from a sinking of the lows,” even if this will “not be enough to move into a bullish dynamic,” added Mr. Rozier.
Because the macroeconomy continues to pay a high price for the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
Private sector activity in the eurozone collapsed in April at an “unprecedented” rate, according to a first estimate on Thursday from Markit’s composite PMI index.
Private sector activity and the business climate in France, for their part, fell to a new historic low in April while in Germany, German consumer sentiment is expected to reach a new historic low in May, according to the GfK barometer.
Bankers take advantage of the ECB
In this context, borrowing rates in the euro zone started to fall again, allowing the spread between the German ten-year yield and that of the same maturity of Italy – which had seen a surge the day before – to further reduce to 240 basis points.
In terms of securities, the banking sector benefited from announcements from the European Central Bank on Wednesday evening, which said it was ready to accept degraded bonds in the “speculative” category as guarantees for loans granted to banks.
BNP Paribas jumped 6.25% to 27.13 euros, as did Société Générale (+ 5.18% to 14.21 euros) and Crédit Agricole (+ 4.35% to 6.76 euros).
Renault took 4.16% to 16.49 euros. The automaker has certainly seen its turnover plunge 19.2% in the first quarter, victim of the global market collapse, but in line with analysts’ forecasts.
On the other side of the Rhine, Daimler rose 3.18% to 28.74 euros despite a 78% drop to 617 million euros in operating profit in the first quarter, marked by the coronavirus pandemic.
Hermès garnered 4.22% at 701 euros. The group expects sales “strongly” affected in the second quarter by the epidemic but says it is “confident” about its “resilience”.
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