Mining and energy stocks soar in Europe as optimism after US pandemic spreads

European stocks are expected to record their biggest one-day gain in Friday’s week, led by a spillover from the Wall Street positive session following positive U.S. economic data. U.S. stock futures were higher.

Stoxx Europe Index 600 SXXP,
+ 0.52%
it climbed 0.7% to 425.96 after Thursday’s moderate decline. The index is flat for the week. The German DAX DAX,
+ 0.72%
jumped 0.9%, the French CAC 40 PX1,
+ 0.24%
rose 0.4% and the FTSE 100 UKX index,
+ 0.56%
received 0.7%. Not GBPUSD,
+ 0.39%
and euro EURUSD,
+ 0.26%
both were higher against the dollar.

US stock futures YM00,
+ 0.27%

ES00,
+ 0.30%

NQ00,
+ 0.33%
they went up 0.3% in the table, after a session on Thursday that saw allowances bounce back from a deep decline to a higher end, spurred by better – than – expected weekly jobless claims. President Joe Biden announced a new U.S. COVID-19 vaccine target of 200 million views in his first 100 days in office.

Mining and oil names were driving the gains in Europe, with shares of BP BP,
+ 1.63%

BP,
-0.73%
up nearly 2% and Royal Dutch Shell RDS.A,
-1.19%

RDSA,
+ 1.28%
gets 1% and Rio Tinto shares up 3%. Also helping energy names was a more than 2% rise in oil prices CL.1,
+ 2.17%

BRN00,
+ 2.01%,
which rose as a major shipping facility still in the vital Suez Canal waterway.

In terms of data, UK sales rose 2.1% in February. Meanwhile, the UK government voted on Thursday to extend coronavirus emergency powers to September, while also agreeing to the government’s plan to phase out the lock over the next three months.

Shares of shipping giant AP Moeller Maersk MAERSK.B,
+ 4.16%
it rose 3.6%, tracking gains for some Asian shipping companies.

Shares of Banco Santander SAN,
+ 2.54%

SAN,
+ 0.59%
it rose 3% after the Spanish lender said late Thursday that its board has agreed to a share of 2.75 European cents (3.23 US cents) to pay a share in cash.

Europe also received news of unions and benefits as UK multinational insurer Aviva AV,
+ 0.53%
announced the sale of their Polish unit to German insurer Allianz ALV,
+ 0.78%
for € 2.4 billion. Aviva shares rose 0.9% and Allianz shares gained 0.7%.

.Source