European stocks largely flat; German industrial orders impress

© Reuters.

By Peter Nurse

Investing.com - European stock markets traded largely unchanged Tuesday in subdued trading, with stronger than expected German industrial production numbers helping to balance out generally negative global sentiment.

At 03:55 ET (08:55 GMT), the DAX index in Germany traded 0.1% higher, CAC 40 in France traded up 0.1%, while the FTSE 100 in the U.K. dropped 0.1%.

Risk-off sentiment is generally holding sway globally Tuesday, after the negative close on Wall Street after U.S. services sector activity unexpectedly accelerated in November, raising concerns that the Federal Reserve could continue to tighten monetary policy aggressively.

However, industrial orders from Germany, the biggest economy in the Eurozone, rose 0.8% in October, data released Tuesday showed. This was more than expected, and represents an improvement from the revised 2.9% drop the prior month.

This represented a rare piece of good economic news for the Eurozone, after data released on Monday showed that business activity in the region declined for a fifth month in November, pointing to a recession next year, while retail sales slumped as consumers slashed spending amid surging inflation.

The European Central Bank is still expected to increase interest rates next week, and will have to raise interest rates several more times to tame price pressures, according to ECB chief economist Philip Lane.

In the corporate sector, Porsche AG (ETR:P911_p) stock rose 0.8% after exchange operator Deutsche Boerse said on Monday the sportscar manufacturer will join the German blue-chip DAX index on Dec. 19, just over two months after its market debut.

Aeroports de Paris (EPA:ADP) stock slumped 12% after Royal Schiphol Group announced it has sold off its remaining stake in the French airports company.

Ashtead (LON:AHT) stock rose 3% after the industrial equipment rental company posted strong first-half numbers, adding the full-year results would be “ahead of our previous expectations.”

Crude oil prices rebounded Tuesday after the previous session’s sharp losses, on continued optimism of a recovery in Chinese demand as several cities in the world’s top crude importer relaxed more COVID curbs over the weekend.

Oil prices slumped more than 3% on Monday after the strong U.S. services sector data, while traders digested the EU import ban and Group of Seven's $60-a-barrel price cap on seaborne Russian oil coming into force.

By 04:00 ET, U.S. crude futures traded 0.1% higher at $76.95 a barrel, while the Brent contract rose 0.2% to $82.87.

Additionally, gold futures rose 0.2% to $1,783.95/oz, while EUR/USD edged higher to 1.0492.