Economic Calendar:
Monday, 20th April
German PPI (MoM) (Mar)
Eurozone Trade Balance (Feb)
Tuesday, 21st April
German ZEW Current Conditions (Apr)
German ZEW Economic Sentiment (Apr)
Eurozone ZEW Economic Sentiment (Apr)
Wednesday, 22nd April
Eurozone Consumer Confidence Flash (April)
Thursday, 23rd April
GfK German Consumer Climate (May)
French Manufacturing PMI (Apr) Prelim
French Services PMI (Apr) Prelim
German Manufacturing PMI (Apr) Prelim
German Services PMI (Apr) Prelim
Eurozone Manufacturing PMI (Apr) Prelim
Eurozone Markit Composite PMI (Apr) Prelim
Eurozone Services PMI (Apr) Prelim
Friday, 24th April
German IFO Business Climate Index (Apr)
The Majors
It was a bullish end to the week for the European majors, with the CAC40 rallying by 3.42% to lead the way. The DAX30 and EuroStoxx600 weren’t far behind, with gains of 3.15% and 2.63% respectively.
Support for riskier assets came from news of a new drug showing effectiveness against the coronavirus.
Adding to the upside on the day was news of governments preparing to take steps to ease lockdown measures that will likely bring an end to the economic spiral into the abyss.
Economic data took a backseat as the markets demonstrated its Teflon characteristics once more.
The Stats
It was a relatively quiet day on the Eurozone economic calendar on Friday. Finalized March inflation figures for the Eurozone were in focus.
Inflation figures failed to move the dial, however, with the markets already anticipating deflationary pressures.
Ahead of the European open, economic data out of China failed to spook the markets in spite of some quite dire numbers.
In the 1st quarter, the Chinese economy contracted by 9.8%, quarter-on-quarter, and by 6.8% year-on-year.
While private sector PMI numbers for March had indicated a return to growth, industrial production fell by 1.1% in March. Retail sales figures were more alarming, with sales tumbling by 15.8%, year-on-year…
The stats failed to shift risk sentiment early in the day, however, with the futures markets holding on to gains made ahead of the data dump.
From the U.S, there were no material stats to influence later in the day, leaving the majors in the hands of chatter from the U.S administration.
The Market Movers
For the DAX: It was another bullish day for the auto sector on Friday. BMW and Volkswagen rallied by 6.67% and by 6.91% respectively to lead the way. Continental and Daimler and weren’t far behind, with gains of 6.28% and 5.31% respectively.
It was also a bullish day for the banks. Commerzbank and Deutsche Bank rallied by 6.31% and by 4.69% respectively.