European Stocks Advance With Elections in Focus – Europe Market Wrap

Following US economic statistics that bolstered the case for easing, investors seemed increasingly confident about the rationale for Federal Reserve interest-rate decreases, while European markets surged as important elections took the stage.

In the lead-up to the decisive round of voting in the legislative elections that take place this weekend, the benchmark CAC40 index for France saw gains for the second day. The UK general election is currently in progress, and shortly after 10 p.m. local time, the first official exit poll is anticipated.

The main gainers on Europe’s regional Stoxx 600 index were banking stocks, which increased by 0.5%. Due to the closure of the cash markets on July 4th, there were little changes to US equities futures contracts. In the brief session on Wednesday due to the holiday, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 reached new highs.

A string of weak US economic data has rekindled expectations for a September rate cut, and global equities are poised for their biggest run of weekly advances since March. Prior to Friday’s important jobs data, reports on Wednesday revealed that the US services sector shrank at its quickest rate in four years and that the labour market continued to show symptoms of weakness.