European stocks staged a tentative recovery on Friday as solid earnings at several US companies helped investors overcome the disappointment of the European Central Bank’s failure to deliver immediate policy easing.
“A stream of earnings from the US has shown that people have to pay attention to the corporate cycle as well as the interest rate cycle, and focus is also shifting to the US’s latest GDP numbers this afternoon, which may go some way to influencing what the US Federal Reserve decides to do,” said Andrew Milligan, head of global strategy at Aberdeen Standard Investments.
Vodafone jumped 7.6% on plans to move its mobile mast operations in 10 European markets into a new company that it potentially could list. “An interest-rate cut of 10 basis points in September looks like a done deal now,” said Hideki Kishida, fixed income strategist at Nomura Securities.