European markets are trading firmly higher this morning after the strong finish on Wall Street. The US session was once again full with whipsaws, but managed to recover all the losses during the session and closed higher with strong gains. We also had the GDP reading for the second biggest economy of the world, China, which came in at 7.4%, which was much stronger as compared to the forecast of 7.3%. The data was released last night during the Asian trading session.
Traders have certainly shrugged off any uncertainty and are looking beyond the geopolitical tensions. Having said that, this optimism could change very quickly as we do expect the markets to stay extremely volatile for the next few months. The industrial production data released overnight for China did show some improvements when the final number hit the wire with the reading of 8.8%. This was a strong evidence that country’s is bouncing back from its slumps which were mainly due to the factory shut down.
Back in Europe, the FTSE MIB is the best performing index do far and it is reading higher with a gain of 1.56%, the IBEX index is the second best performer which is also trading higher with a gain of 1.37%. The economic docket is pretty much full today and it will kick off with the release of the UK’s unemployment rate at 09:30 GMT. Later in the day, we also have the US building permits due at 13:30 GMT. The forecast is for 1.00M.