Despite the catastrophic month in China with late selloffs on Monday taking the CSI 300 to new lows, European markets remained calm this morning. Italian stocks and bonds even rallied as S&P’s credit rating kept them above junk status.
Despite the Chinese renminbi at a near-10-year low, sliding oil prices, and China’s late sell-off, European stocks began trading healthily this Monday morning.
The London FTSE 100 gained 0.5% and Frankfurt’s Xetra Dax 30 gained 0.6% after a dismal week last for most markets led by tech selloffs and disappointing Q3 growth reports from Amazon.
Angela Merkel Steps Down and Italian Bonds Rally
The euro dropped by 0.2% against the dollar as Angela Merkel steps down as the leader of Germany’s governing CDU party. Although she will stay on as chancellor in the interim, she will not be standing for another term.
It was a good start to the day for Italy, as Italian bonds rallied and drove down their yields after the S&P Global kept the country’s credit rating a full two notches above junk status on Friday.
Ahead of the UK Budget announcement later today, the pound remained unaltered. Despite “business as usual,” the mood in European markets remains cautious in the wake of Europe’s uncertain political future and fears over a global economic slowdown.
Signs of Hope from Asia
Despite China’s slowing growth and waning stock markets, other Asian markets performed well, showing signs of hope coming out of Asia.
Japan’s Topix fell by 0.4% briefly after climbing by as much as 1.1%. And in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng rose by 0.1% overall after strong earnings news from HSBC, whose shares rose by 4.55% on the back of a Q3 report that beat all estimates.
HSBC Stock / Hang Seng
Australia’s S&P/ASX also rose 1.2% and the healthcare sector performed particularly well as shares rose by 2.4%.
Early US futures looked to an uncertain open, with the S&P 500 expected to slide to 0.1% and the Nasdaq Composite predicted to rise 0.2%.
Featured image from Shutterstock.
