By Peter Nurse
Investing.com - European stock markets are seen opening higher Thursday, with investors looking for additional fiscal spending following a projected win for Democrats in the U.S. Senate even after amid tumultuous scenes in Washington DC.
At 2:05 AM ET (0705 GMT), the DAX futures contract in Germany traded 0.6% higher, CAC 40 futures in France climbed 0.6% and the FTSE 100 futures contract in the U.K. rose 0.7%.
The Democrat pair of Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock are projected to have won the two Senate seats in Georgia, unseating their Republican rivals David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler.
Democrats are now set to have control of the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives, raising expectations that President-elect Joe Biden will have an easier path to push his agenda, including more stimulus measures, when his administration takes over in a couple of weeks.
This optimism appears to be undimmed by violent scenes in Washington on Wednesday, as supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol where lawmakers were meeting to confirm Biden’s victory in November’s presidential election. Biden called the riot an "insurrection". while Trump refused to disavow the violence.
Back in Europe, the Covid-19 pandemic remains a key concern, with a number of countries forced back into lockdown as new cases continued to mount. The U.K. reported more than 60,000 new daily cases on Wednesday for the first time since the pandemic started.
The European Medicines Agency approved Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine on Wednesday, which is expected to result in the distribution of the drug around the region shortly.
Turning to economic data, German factory orders surprised to the upside, climbing 2.3% on the month in November when a drop of 1.2% had been expected, while euro-zone flash inflation figures and retail sales are due for release later Thursday.
In corporate news, LafargeHolcim (OTC:HCMLY) will be in focus after the world’s biggest cement maker said Thursday it plans to buy Firestone Building Products from Bridgestone Americas for $3.4 billion.
Oil prices pushed higher Thursday, with a bigger-than-expected drop in U.S. crude stockpiles adding to the bullish tone created by Saudi Arabia’s pledge earlier this week to cut output by one million barrels per day in February and March, once the chaos in Washington dissolved.
Crude inventories were down by 8 million barrels in the week to Jan. 1 to 485.5 million barrels, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday. This was much more than expected, and followed the American Petroleum Institute reporting a draw of 1.663 million barrels on Tuesday.
U.S. crude futures traded 1.1% higher at $51.16 a barrel, moving decisively above the $50 level for the first time since February, while the international benchmark Brent contract rose 0.9% to $54.81.
Elsewhere, gold futures rose 0.9% to $1,925.90/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.1% lower at 1.2319.