European shares rebound from dour week with central banks in focus

PARIS: European bourses rose on Monday, recovering from steep declines the previous week as focus shifted to an anticipated interest rate cut from the European Central Bank on Thursday.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index closed 0.8% higher after falling 3.5% the week prior, its worst week since March 2023, as investors sought safer assets amid fears of a slowdown in global growth.

Major regional bourses advanced between 0.7% and 1% on Monday, with French stocks leading gains.

Highlighting the persistent economic worries in the bloc, data on Monday showed investor morale in the euro zone fell for a third consecutive month in September, dropping to its lowest level since January.

Taking centre stage is the European Central Bank’s rate decision on Thursday. Markets broadly anticipate the central bank will ease policy by 25 basis points and will be watching for any signals from ECB President Christine Lagarde on the possibility of further cuts this year.

“The moderation in the labour market and economic activity since the June meeting should fuel confidence in the disinflationary process being on track, in particularly given the slowdown in wage growth,” analysts at Danske Bank said.

“We expect Lagarde to confirm that it is entering the dialling back phase, but we do not expect a commitment to a specific timing of further rate cuts.”

In addition to the central bank meetings, a slew of economic data is awaited, including inflation figures from the US, Germany, Spain and France, and British gross domestic product figures.

US inflation figures will be closely watched for further signals on whether the Federal Reserve, which also meets later this month, will ease policy by 25 bps or 50 bps.

All of the STOXX 600 sector indexes were in the green, barring a 0.2% loss in real estate, which took a breather after rising 4% the week before.

Travel and leisure outperformed other sectors, rising 2.1%, lifted by a 5.3% gain in Entain after the British gambling group said online revenue growth in the start of the second half of 2024 was better than expected.

Adidas AG lost 3% after Barclays downgraded the stock to “equal weight” from “overweight”.