By Peter Nurse
Investing.com - European stock markets are seen edging higher at the open Monday, continuing the global rally amid signs the world economic recovery was well on track.
At 3:05 AM ET (0705 GMT), the DAX futures contract in Germany traded 0.1% higher, CAC 40 futures in France climbed 0.1% and the FTSE 100 futures contract in the U.K. rose 0.1%.
Wall Street closed firmly higher Friday, with the broad-based S&P 500, for example, hitting a record intraday peak to end up 1.1%, and this positive tone continued in Asia, with even India’s Nifty 50 gaining 1.2%, despite the country continuing to battle record levels of new Covid-19 infections.
The risk appetite has been boosted by strong signs of a global economic improvement, typified by the early April manufacturing activity indicators out last week, with data hitting record highs in the United States and signalling an end to Europe's double dip recession.
The release of Germany’s highly-watched Ifo Business Climate Index for April later in today’s session should confirm the improved sentiment, while more concrete economic data comes in the form of the first-quarter U.S. gross domestic product number later in the week amid expectations activity will have returned to pre-pandemic levels.
European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde assured the market late last week that pullbacks in the central bank’s emergency bond-buying program were not under discussion, and the Federal Reserve is widely expected to reiterate that stance when it concludes its two-day policy-setting meeting on Wednesday.
Back in Europe, the earnings season continues, with Philips (AS:PHG) in the spotlight after the Dutch health technology company posted a 74% jump in quarterly core earnings and raised its outlook for 2021 citing pandemic-driven demand for its hospital equipment and personal health appliances.
The likes of U.K. publishing giant Pearson (LON:PSON) and French tire manufacturer Michelin (PA:MICP) also report quarterly numbers Monday.
That said, a lot of corporate attention will be on the U.S. tech giants, with Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) among the companies due to release their earnings this week.
Oil prices weakened Monday, on continued concerns that rising numbers of Covid-19 cases in India and Japan, the third and fourth largest crude importers in the world respectively, will hit demand for the product in Asia.
U.S. crude futures traded 1.2% lower at $61.41 a barrel, while the Brent contract fell 1.2% to $64.64. Both contracts fell around 1% last week.
India set a new global record for the most infections in a day on Sunday, while in Japan, a third state of emergency in Tokyo, Osaka and two other prefectures began on the same day, affecting nearly a quarter of the population.
Elsewhere, gold futures were largely flat at $1,777.55/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.1% higher at 1.2109.