European markets showed volatility as they edged higher on Friday as traders weighed up the mixed data from China overnight. Investors were pleased to see the Chinese Industrial Production topping estimates for April but were disappointed by the drop in Retail Sales which highlighted the weakness of demand in almost every sector and remains the strongest bearish leverage to stocks now. Deepening tensions between the US and China, as President Trump ruled out any imminent talks with Xi Jinping, further added to the current ambient uncertainty ahead of the weekend. However, on a more positive note, there are signs of stability across oil markets following Saudi Aramco’s decision to cut sales to its key buyers and rumours of tighter supplies from other counterparts. The IEA view that oil markets were showing “signs of improving” has boosted market sentiment towards Energy shares, making it one of the top performing sectors in Europe this morning. Despite today’s bullish opening, traders are likely to stay cautious ahead of a new batch of significant US data, with the highly anticipated Retail Sales report for April, looming in the afternoon.
The DAX-30 index has rallied this morning with prices now trading close to the 10,500pts level following another solid rebound over 10,200pts. However, the market will have to clear the 10,560pts level in order to invalidate its very-short-term bearish trend and get back to its previous highs towards 10,770 pts and 10,980 pts by extension.
