This is CNBC’s live blog covering European markets.
European stocks are heading for a flat to mixed open Thursday as a relief rally stalls.
The U.K.’s FTSE 100 index is expected to open 6 points higher at 8,404, Germany’s DAX flat at 21,933, France’s CAC 2 points lower at 7,475 and Italy’s FTSE MIB 53 points lower at 35,942, according to data from IG.
Earnings are set to come from Unilever, Banco Sabadell, Sanofi, Eni, BNP Paribas and Dassault Systemes. Data releases will include French consumer confidence and EU new car registrations.
Regional markets had followed their global counterparts higher Wednesday as concerns about a trade war between the U.S. and China receded.
U.S. stocks also surged on Wednesday after President Donald Trump said he didn’t plan to remove Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell from his post as central bank leader. Market sentiment had dipped in recent days amid concerns that the central bank’s independence could have been compromised.
S&P 500 futures rose on Wednesday night after the major U.S. averages posted a second straight winning day, while Asia-Pacific markets traded mixed overnight as a possible thaw in U.S.-China trade war fueled investor optimism.
‘Bear market rallies are the most violent,’ Wolfe Research strategists say
“Bear market rallies are the most violent,” according to Wolfe Research macro strategists Rob Ginsberg and Read Harvey in a note published late Tuesday after Day 1 of the latest market comeback.
Tuesday’s 2.5% gain in the S&P 500 showed internal markers such as breadth and volume that “were extremely strong, but that’s the point of the bear market rally, they make you a believer,” the pair wrote.
Because their analysis of longer-term, weekly and monthly trends “continues to suggest that we are in a bear market,” Ginsberg and Harvey are looking for “a cluster” of signals to shift direction before declaring the bear dead. Those include a turn in the three-month rate of change and for the S&P 500 to climb above short-term resistance levels between 5500 and 5700.
The S&P 500 closed Wednesday at 5,375.86.
— Scott Schnipper
Market hasn’t fully priced in a recession yet, Deutsche Bank says
While uncertainty stemming from President Donald Trump’s new tariffs have certainly fanned recessionary fears in recent weeks, the market hasn’t fully bought into the idea, according to Deutsche Bank.
“It’s clear that investors aren’t fully pricing a recession in just yet,” wrote strategist Henry Allen. “After all, the equity declines have been shallower than recent recessions, as have the widening in credit spreads and the declines in oil prices. So markets clearly don’t see a recession as inevitable, particularly if the tariffs don’t come into force after the latest 90-day extension.”
On the flip side, investors not fully pricing in a recession means that stocks could see “significant downside risks” if an economic downturn does indeed materialize.
— Lisa Kailai Han
European markets: Here are the opening calls
European markets are expected to open in flat to mixed territory Thursday.
The U.K.’s FTSE 100 index is expected to open 6 points higher at 8,404, Germany’s DAX flat at 21,933, France’s CAC 2 points lower at 7,475 and Italy’s FTSE MIB 53 points lower at 35,942, according to data from IG.
Earnings are set to come from Unilever, Banco Sabadell, Sanofi, Eni, BNP Paribas and Dassault Systemes. Data releases include French consumer confidence and EU new car registrations.
— Holly Ellyatt
