© Reuters.
By Peter Nurse
Investing.com – European stock markets traded higher Tuesday, helped by stronger than expected German growth and the full U.S. approval of a Covid-19 vaccine.
At 4:15 AM ET (0815 GMT), the in Germany traded 0.2% higher, the in France rose 0.1% and the U.K.’s climbed 0.1%.
Economic data released Tuesday showed that the German economy grew more than expected in the second quarter. climbed an adjusted 1.6% on the quarter, up from its previous estimate of 1.5%, helped by the easing of Covid-19 curbs.
That’s a sharp rebound from the first quarter’s decline but gains have been limited given the Bundesbank’s announcement on Monday that the country may miss full-year growth targets due to the delta variant.
Also helping the sentiment in European markets Tuesday were the strong gains on Wall Street overnight, with the tech-heavy jumping 1.6% to a record closing high, after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted full approval to the Covid-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer (NYSE:) and BioNTech (DE:).
Investors are also keeping a wary eye on the situation in Afghanistan, with leaders from the Group of Seven industrial countries set to hold a virtual meeting later Tuesday to discuss the situation.
However, the main focus this week will be on the Federal Reserve’s Jackson Hole symposium that opens on Aug. 26, where further clues on the timeline for the U.S. central bank’s planning on asset tapering and interest rate hikes are expected.
In the U.K. retail sector, J Sainsbury (LON:) (OTC:) stock fell 1.7%, handing back some of Monday’s hefty gains on the back of a report that private equity firms were looking at this grocery chain. Marks and Spencer (LON:) (OTC:) stock rose 3.2% with this sector seemingly in play.
Elsewhere, oil prices pushed higher, continuing Monday’s sharp rebound with the full approval of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine boosting hopes that greater vaccination levels will lead to a boost in fuel demand.
Investors now await oil supply data from the {{ecl-656||American Petroleum Institute, due later in the day, amid expectations for a hefty fall in inventories ahead of Labor Day weekend.
By 4:15 AM ET, U.S. crude futures traded 1.1% higher at $66.39 a barrel, while the contract rose 1.2% to $69.19. Both contracts jumped more than 5% on Monday after recording their biggest week of losses in more than nine months last week.
Additionally, rose 0.2% to $1,803.15/oz, while traded 0.1% lower to 1.1737.
Disclaimer: Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. All CFDs (stocks, indexes, futures) and Forex prices are not provided by exchanges but rather by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual market price, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Therefore Fusion Media doesn`t bear any responsibility for any trading losses you might incur as a result of using this data.
Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.
