Stocks - Europe Pushes Higher, Expecting More Stimulus

By Peter Nurse 

Investing.com - European stock markets rose Wednesday, helped by hopes for more stimulus to help the region’s battered economies recover from the effects of the coronavirus-inspired lockdown.

At 4:10 AM ET (08:10 GMT), the DAX in Germany traded 0.8% higher, France's CAC 40 and the U.K.'s FTSE index were up 0.9%.

Earlier Wednesday, ECB Executive Board member Isabel Schnabel indicated, in an interview with the Financial Times, that the central bank was ready to act and use any instrument "if it judges that the medium-term inflation outlook has worsened." Her words echoed those of the usually conservative Bank of France Governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau on Tuesday.

Euro area annual inflation was 0.3 % in April, down from 0.7 % in March - some way removed from the ECB’s goal of below, but close to, 2%. 

This suggests more largesse from the central bank is likely, perhaps as soon as next week’s monetary policy meeting.

Schnabel added that the German constitutional court's ruling against the European Central Bank's bond-buying scheme will not directly affect the ECB and will not lead to the Bundesbank having to exit the scheme.

On top of this, the European Commission is set to unveil a plan to help the region’s economy recover from its coronavirus slump with a mix of grants, loans and guarantees exceeding 1 trillion euros.

In corporate news, Nokian Renkaat (HE:TYRES) jumped 12% after it named a new chief executive officer.

On the flip side, German chipmaker Infineon (DE:IFXGn)  dipped 3% after it raised just over 1 billion euros by issuing new shares to partially finance its $10 billion acquisition of U.S.-based Cypress Semiconductor.

The crude oil market slipped back Wednesday, consolidating after recent hefty gains. Investors will get a measure of how U.S. stockpiles look when the American Petroleum Institute gives its gauge after the bell. It arrives a day later due to Monday’s holiday.

Last week API reported a drop of 4.8 million barrels in oil inventories.

Seevol.com reported a 4.26-million-barrel decline for the week to May 22 at the Cushing, Okla. hub that stores crude delivered against expiring spot contracts of WTI.

At 4:10 AM ET, U.S. crude June futures traded 1.5% lower at $33.83 a barrel. The international benchmark Brent contract fell 1.8% to $35.52.

Elsewhere, gold futures fell 0.5% to $1,697.10/oz, while EUR/USD traded at 1.0959, down 0.2%.