European stock markets rally on upbeat data

LONDON: European stocks and the euro rallied Tuesday as regional data pointed to hopes of a quick economic recovery, while President Donald Trump dampened fears of the US-China trade deal collapsing.

"Better-than-expected figures have bolstered the existing recovery in risk appetite... with overnight markets shrugging off the brief panic induced by some unguarded comments by (Trump advisor) Peter Navarro regarding the US-China trade deal," said Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG trading group.

Private sector economic activity in the eurozone and UK shrank further in June but the rates of decline slowed compared to the height of the coronavirus lockdown, IHS Markit said Tuesday.

"Output and demand are still falling but no longer collapsing," said Chris Williamson, chief business economist at IHS Markit.

Trump has meanwhile countered comments by Navarro, one of his top economics advisers, who said the China-US trade deal was "over".

Appearing on Fox News, Navarro hit out at China's handling of the coronavirus outbreak and when asked whether the much-vaunted trade pact signed in January was over he replied: "It's over. Yes."

Markets across Asia immediately dropped. But soon after, Trump tweeted: "The China Trade Deal is fully intact. Hopefully they will continue to live up to the terms of the Agreement!"

Navarro said his comments had been taken out of context.

Oil prices, which had fallen around two percent on Navarro's remarks, rebounded Tuesday by similar amounts.

"Trump would be very reluctant to officially walk away from the deal in an election year, given the potential impact it would have on markets," said Warren Patterson, at ING Bank NV.

Easing of lockdown measures combined with trillions of dollars in government and central bank support meanwhile remain the key drivers of the seemingly unstoppable march higher for equities.

And a pick-up in new cases in all continents is still unable to knock traders off their stride, as they bet on a V-shaped economic recovery.

"When you have high levels of liquidity, when you have a recovering economy, low inflation, low interest rates, you really have a strong foundation for equities to move higher," Victoria Fernandez at Crossmark Global Investments, told Bloomberg TV.

"But there are so many uncertainties still out there that we think there's going to be some volatility before we get that upside trend on a continual basis."

   - Key figures around 1115 GMT -
   London - FTSE 100: UP 1.1 percent at 6,314.13 points
   Frankfurt - DAX 30: UP 2.5 percent at 12,572.2 
   Paris - CAC 40: UP 1.5 percent at 5,022.16 
   EURO STOXX 50: UP 1.9 percent at 3,303.86 
   Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 0.5 percent at 22,549.05 (close)
   Hong Kong - Hang Seng: UP 1.6 percent at 24,907.34 (close)
   Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.2 percent at 2,970.62 (close)
   New York - Dow: UP 0.6 percent at 26,024.96 (close)
   West Texas Intermediate: UP 1.8 percent at $41.47 per barrel
   Brent North Sea crude: UP 1.7 percent at $43.81 per barrel
   Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1287 from $1.1259 at 2040 GMT 
   Dollar/yen: UP at 107.02 yen from 106.90 yen
   Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2437 from $1.2465
   Euro/pound: UP at 90.72 pence from 90.32 pence