Stocks opened mostly lower on Thursday in Europe amid weaker market sentiment following mixed developments on multiple fronts. Rising US-Sino tensions, increasing virus cases on the old continent and the recent batch of mixed macro data are some of the clouds darkening the sky for investors at the moment. As previously said, there is no surprise to see investors reducing their exposure to risky assets and/or use safer havens as diversification tools when uncertainty rises. The “wait and see mode” continues and market operators are likely to patiently wait for further bullish drivers before driving stock prices higher. However, while macro data and recovery packages remain important, failure from EU governments to contain a second virus wave could pose a serious threat to the economic recovery, leading to important downside risks for markets as a W-shaped evolution is still possible.
The Industrial sector is saving the day on European assets despite the current mixed trading stance. The DAX-30 index brings the best performance of the Eurozone, thanks to Siemens after the company published a solid +8% earnings, beating analyst estimates.
