European stocks traded higher Monday, helped by hopes of further stimulus on both sides of the Atlantic with the autumn spread of the coronavirus increasingly leading to tightened rules on activity.The German DAX DAX, +0.17% and the French CAC 40 PX1, +0.07% edged higher while the U.K. FTSE 100 UKX, -0.13% slipped.
Market attention continues to be focused on the prospect of a U.S. second stimulus package. Senate Republicans as well as House Democrats objected to the new offer from the Trump administration over the weekend. Philip Lane, the chief economist of the European Central Bank, said in an interview that the eurozone economy is going to end the year about 5% below last year’s levels as he didn’t commit to further stimulus. “It really is a unique period of uncertainty. But along some dimensions the uncertainty will diminish in the autumn because we’ll know more about the outlook for 2021,” Lane told The Wall Street Journal.
KPN KPN, +7.38% shares shot up 8% after Bloomberg News reported that private-equity group EQT EQT, +0.45% was considering a takeover offer for the Dutch telecom.
The market just wants to rally. Much of it new, inexperienced investors. This has nothing to do with stimulus, which should have passed months ago. I detest this excuse for a rally!