European stock markets started the final session of the week on a positive note, with major indices broadly higher as investors reacted to a flurry of strong corporate earnings reports and took their lead from a wave of optimistic sentiment that has been rippling through global markets.
About 15 minutes after the opening bell, the pan-European Stoxx 600 was trading 0.3% higher, with most sectors in positive territory.
Among the major national bourses, the French CAC 40 was leading the gains with a solid jump of 0.5%.
Germany’s DAX and London’s FTSE 100 were last seen trading 0.3% and 0.1% higher, respectively.
This upbeat mood in Europe follows a strong session on Wall Street, where the S&P 500 closed at an all-time high on Thursday, and the Nasdaq Composite also hit a new record.
The rally in US markets was fueled by better-than-expected earnings from major companies like Netflix, PepsiCo, and United Airlines.
The positive sentiment carried over into the Asia-Pacific region overnight, where Australian stocks reached a record high after a rise in unemployment figures fueled bets of a rate cut from the country’s central bank. Investors in Asia were also reacting to a cooling inflation print out of Japan.
Corporate stars shine: Burberry beats, Saab soars
Friday is another busy day on the European earnings front, with several key companies updating investors on their financial health.
British luxury fashion house Burberry reported that its comparable store sales fell by a smaller-than-expected 1% in its fiscal first quarter.
This result was better than the 3% year-on-year decline that analysts polled by Reuters had been anticipating. During the same period a year ago, comparable sales had fallen by a much steeper 21% year-on-year.
The company touted its ongoing turnaround strategy as “positioning the business for a return to sustainable, profitable growth.”
Swedish defense giant Saab delivered an even more impressive performance, reporting a stronger-than-expected second-quarter operating income of 1.98 billion Swedish krona ($200 million) this morning.
This marks a substantial 49% jump from the same period a year ago and comfortably beat the 1.71 billion krona expected by analysts polled by LSEG. Quarterly sales also rose by a better-than-expected 30% year-on-year.
“We are strengthening our market position and see a continued large interest in our products and solutions,” Micael Johansson, President and CEO of Saab, said in a statement alongside the results.
Saab’s sales growth is high and we continue to invest to build capacity and meet long-term strong demand from the defence sector.
Saab, which manufactures a range of military hardware including fighter systems, weaponry, and submarines, is clearly benefiting from a global increase in defense spending. Other major European companies reporting earnings today include Danske Bank and Skanska.
The tariff rollercoaster: navigating US trade tensions
Despite the positive market and corporate news, investors in Europe are still closely monitoring the tense trade relationship between the European Union and the United States.
Over the weekend, US President Donald Trump sent the bloc a letter informing officials that he would slap 30% tariffs on EU goods starting from August.
Speaking to CNBC this morning, Michal Baranowski, Polish undersecretary of state at the ministry of economic development and technology, described the ongoing negotiations with the Trump administration as a “rollercoaster.”
“On the big picture, we were close before we received this letter,” Baranowski told CNBC’s ‘Europe Early Edition’.
It is bit of a rollercoaster negotiations for everyone. So, I would say that we are certainly close but, of course, we will be there only until we can actually put some things on paper.
His comments highlight the ongoing uncertainty and the high-stakes nature of the talks as the EU scrambles to reach a deal.
On the data front today, Germany will release its June producer price index figures, while Italian construction output figures and Spain’s latest balance of trade figures are also due.
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