European stocks edge higher in payrolls afterglow; eurozone retail sales due

Investing.com – European stock markets traded higher Monday, boosted by a largely positive handover from Asia after last week’s strong US jobs report, with the new corporate earnings season drawing near. 

At 03:05 ET (07:05 GMT), the in Germany traded 0.2% higher, the in France rose 0.3% and the in the U.K. climbed 0.3%.

Europe benefits from payrolls afterglow

The main European indices have started the new week on a positive note, boosted by gains in Asia, with Japan’s leading the way with gains of 2%, on the back of the latest U.S. jobs report that exceeded expectations.

data, released on Friday, showed the U.S. economy added 254,000 jobs in September, ahead of the near 150,000 forecast.

This release has shifted the narrative from worries about a U.S. economic recession to the potential for a so-called “soft landing”, a cyclical slowdown in economic growth that avoids the world’s largest economy going into recession. 

Eurozone retail sales due

Back in Europe, the economic news is less impressive, as slumped 5.8% on the month in August, data showed earlier Monday, a significant deterioration from the prior month’s revised higher 3.9% gain.

The business climate in the German retail sector clouded over in September, according to an Ifo survey published on Monday.

Retailers assessed their current situation as slightly worse than in the previous month and are more pessimistic about the coming months, the survey showed.

However, Monday’s main release will be the latest data, as a guide for how the important consumer is holding up during these tricky times.

Retail sales are expected to have climbed 0.2% in August, a marginal improvement from the 0.1% gain the previous month.

ECB chief economist as well as board members Piero Cipollone and Jose Luis Escriva are all scheduled to speak later Monday, and are likely to follow President in signalling a brisk pace of further easing. 

Quarterly earnings season draws near

In the corporate sector, the third-quarter earnings season is drawing near, with the US banking sector leading the way.

Major financial firms including JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:), Wells Fargo (NYSE:) and BlackRock (NYSE:) all report on Friday, with their European counterparts set to follow shortly afterwards. 

Elsewhere, Shell (LON:) stock rose 0.4% despite the energy giant indicating in a trading update that its refining profit margins dropped sharply in the third quarter from the previous three months as global demand sagged, while oil product trading earnings also weakened.

Crude pares last week’s gains

Oil prices slipped slightly Monday, handing back some of the previous week’s hefty gains as traders continue to look to the Middle East for developments.

By 03:05 ET, the contract slipped 0.2% to $77.86 per barrel, while futures (WTI) traded 0.2% lower at $74.25 per barrel.

Oil prices last week recorded their biggest weekly gains in over a year on the mounting threat of a region-wide war in the Middle East, with Israel having sworn to strike Iran for launching a barrage of missiles at Israel last Tuesday after Israel assassinated the leader of Iran-backed Hezbollah.

On Monday, Israelis marked the first anniversary of the Hamas attack that triggered a war, which risks igniting a wider conflict in the Middle East.