All European benchmarks are trading significantly higher on Tuesday, extending yesterday’s gains, as market sentiment strengthened towards risk assets such as stocks and corporate bonds. This revived risk appetite, mainly built on hopes of an easing of the COVID-19 spread, is getting stronger and stronger as new reassuring data confirm the progress we saw during the weekend. In addition, investors around the world still have in mind the unprecedented global monetary response to this crisis and know that it could significantly sustain an extended rally if the virus starts to be brought under control in most impacted economies. While the current situation may tempt some investors to “catch the rebound” by buying the dip, others may want to remain cautious and wait for more accurate corporate reports to get a better idea of the extent of the economic damage before increasing their exposure to these markets.
The Stoxx-50 Index is being driven higher by financial shares with ING and Société Générale some of the best performers in Europe so far. The technical landscape of the Stoxx-50 Index is becoming really interesting as the price is now challenging its double resistance level (Speedline + 38.20% Fibonacci) following on from a bullish runaway gap opened up at the beginning of this week, which led to the validation of a bullish flag pattern (see attached chart). A clearing of the zone at 2,880pts is likely to extend the current rally towards 2,975pts and 3,075pts on a short-term basis.
