By Peter Nurse
Investing.com - European stock markets edged cautiously higher Thursday, as investors continued to monitor developments surrounding the Covid virus and ahead of the release of important U.S. employment data.
At 3:35 AM ET (0835 GMT), the DAX in Germany traded 0.1% higher, the CAC 40 in France rose 0.3% and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 climbed 0.2%.
Global stock markets have been buoyed this week by indications that the Omicron variant of the coronavirus may produce a milder reaction in patients, even if it is more transmissible, along with studies from drugmakers that the current vaccines can cope with the virus’s mutations.
That said, many countries in Europe are still battling to stop a fourth wave of the pandemic by imposing tougher Covid-19 restrictions, including England recommending people to work from home and Denmark closing restaurants, bars and schools.
In corporate news, Lagardere (PA:LAGA) stock rose 4.3% after French entertainment Vivendi (OTC:VIVHY) announced it will acquire activist fund Amber Capital’s stake of just under 18% in the media group in the coming days and then file a full takeover offer.
Deutsche Bank (DE:DBKGn) stock fell 1.5% after the Wall Street Journal reported that the German lender may have violated a criminal settlement with the U.S. Justice Department by its silence over an internal complaint.
Rolls-Royce (OTC:RYCEY) stock fell 2.9% despite the U.K. engineering firm reporting an improved trading performance, which resulted in a return to positive free cash flow in the third quarter. The company was severely hit by the pandemic due to its exposure to the airline industry. Improved cash flow in the current year is due partly to the fact that 300 million pounds of liabilities have been deferred to the 2022 fiscal year.
German trade data offered up some positive news Thursday, as exports grew at their strongest pace in more than a year in October, climbing 4.1% after falling in August and September. Imports also saw an unexpected leap, growing 5% after a slightly revised rise of 0.4% in the prior month.
Still, much of the attention is likely to be on the release of the latest weekly U.S. jobless claims data from the U.S., at 8:30 AM ET (1330 GMT), the most up-to-date gauge of the strength of the country’s labor market.
Economists are expecting the number of first-time claimants to come in at 215,000, a small improvement from the 222,000 seen the previous week.
Oil prices stabilised Thursday after recent gains on increasing optimism that the new variant will not cause a significant hit to crude consumption.
Meanwhile, Wednesday’s U.S. crude oil supply data from the Energy Information Administration showed a draw of 240,000 barrels for last week, less than the previous week’s 910,000-barrel draw and also below the draw of 3 million barrels indicated by the American Petroleum Institute on Tuesday.
By 3:35 AM ET, U.S. crude futures traded 0.1% higher at $72.44 a barrel, while the Brent contract was largely unchanged at $75.83.
Additionally, gold futures fell 0.1% to $1,784.05/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.2% lower at 1.1322.