Stock Market News

European stocks surge higher on U.S. debt ceiling optimism; BT Group slumps

2023.05.18 04:51


© Reuters.

Investing.com – European stock markets traded higher Thursday, with investors optimistic of a deal to lift the U.S. debt ceiling while awaiting comments from ECB chief Christine Lagarde.

At 04:10 ET (08:10 GMT), the in Germany traded 1.6% higher, while the in the U.K. climbed 0.6% and the in France rose 1%.

Investors have been buoyed by the apparent determination of President Joe Biden and top U.S. congressional Republican Kevin McCarthy to reach an agreement soon, with Biden cutting short an Asia trip to return to talks on Sunday.

“It is possible to get a deal by the end of the week,” McCarthy told reporters on Wednesday. “It’s not that difficult to get to an agreement.”

The drama has been unfolding for weeks, since the government officially hit the ceiling of $31.4 trillion in January, with the Treasury warning that it could run out of cash by early June, potentially triggering a disastrous, first-ever default.

Back in Europe, the region’s data cupboard is largely bare today, and instead a lot of the day’s focus will be on a speech by ECB President .

The raised interest rates earlier this month, continuing its prolonged monetary tightening campaign against inflation, and investors will be looking for clues of future action.

In the corporate sector, BT Group (LON:) stock slumped 8% after the telecoms giant announced plans to cut between 40,000 and 55,000 jobs by the end of the decade as part of plans to slash costs.

Burberry (LON:) stock fell 6.6% with investors taking profits even after the luxury fashion brand reported an increase in full-year revenue and sales as China rebounds. The stock has gained 16% so far this year.

Deutsche Bank (ETR:) stock rose 0.7% after the German lender agreed to pay $75 million to settle a lawsuit by women who say they were abused by the late financier Jeffrey Epstein, and accused the bank of facilitating his sex trafficking.

Oil prices retreated Thursday, handing back some of the previous session’s solid gains as markets awaited more news on the potential lifting of the U.S. debt ceiling.

Crude prices rallied over 3% on Wednesday on optimism that a deal on raising the U.S. debt limit could shortly be reached, adding to the news of a drop in U.S. gasoline inventories due to demand surging to the highest levels since 2021.

By 04:10 ET, futures traded 0.5% lower at $72.47 a barrel, while the contract dropped 0.5% to $76.60. 

Additionally, fell 0.4% to $1,975.35/oz, while traded 0.2% lower at 1.0814.

Source link

Related Articles

Back to top button
bitcoin
Bitcoin (BTC) $ 97,681.17 0.95%
ethereum
Ethereum (ETH) $ 3,365.50 0.15%
tether
Tether (USDT) $ 1.00 0.09%
solana
Solana (SOL) $ 250.37 2.48%
bnb
BNB (BNB) $ 657.68 1.09%
xrp
XRP (XRP) $ 1.40 9.41%
dogecoin
Dogecoin (DOGE) $ 0.420655 10.36%
usd-coin
USDC (USDC) $ 1.00 0.07%
cardano
Cardano (ADA) $ 1.03 4.92%
staked-ether
Lido Staked Ether (STETH) $ 3,368.76 0.35%
tron
TRON (TRX) $ 0.209572 3.18%
stellar
Stellar (XLM) $ 0.555057 26.03%
avalanche-2
Avalanche (AVAX) $ 40.75 4.05%
the-open-network
Toncoin (TON) $ 6.12 7.56%
shiba-inu
Shiba Inu (SHIB) $ 0.000026 5.46%
wrapped-steth
Wrapped stETH (WSTETH) $ 3,987.47 0.36%
wrapped-bitcoin
Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) $ 97,439.11 1.01%
polkadot
Polkadot (DOT) $ 8.68 10.74%
chainlink
Chainlink (LINK) $ 16.95 0.42%
bitcoin-cash
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) $ 505.60 4.88%
weth
WETH (WETH) $ 3,362.28 0.09%
sui
Sui (SUI) $ 3.37 5.34%
pepe
Pepe (PEPE) $ 0.00002 6.44%
leo-token
LEO Token (LEO) $ 8.72 1.68%
near
NEAR Protocol (NEAR) $ 6.36 1.71%
litecoin
Litecoin (LTC) $ 97.27 5.54%
aptos
Aptos (APT) $ 12.18 3.12%
uniswap
Uniswap (UNI) $ 10.83 2.98%
wrapped-eeth
Wrapped eETH (WEETH) $ 3,540.63 0.12%
hedera-hashgraph
Hedera (HBAR) $ 0.148183 1.27%
internet-computer
Internet Computer (ICP) $ 11.13 0.39%
usds
USDS (USDS) $ 1.01 0.62%
crypto-com-chain
Cronos (CRO) $ 0.191 0.48%
polygon-ecosystem-token
POL (ex-MATIC) (POL) $ 0.553854 2.26%
ethereum-classic
Ethereum Classic (ETC) $ 28.70 3.02%
render-token
Render (RENDER) $ 7.77 0.24%
bittensor
Bittensor (TAO) $ 522.13 0.19%
ethena-usde
Ethena USDe (USDE) $ 1.00 0.06%
fetch-ai
Artificial Superintelligence Alliance (FET) $ 1.47 10.02%
kaspa
Kaspa (KAS) $ 0.149828 4.98%
whitebit
WhiteBIT Coin (WBT) $ 24.57 0.22%
dai
Dai (DAI) $ 1.00 0.08%
arbitrum
Arbitrum (ARB) $ 0.850128 2.71%
cosmos
Cosmos Hub (ATOM) $ 8.88 13.18%
vechain
VeChain (VET) $ 0.042092 3.26%
bonk
Bonk (BONK) $ 0.000045 11.08%
filecoin
Filecoin (FIL) $ 5.62 8.68%
mantra-dao
MANTRA (OM) $ 3.69 5.63%
okb
OKB (OKB) $ 53.52 4.65%
dogwifcoin
dogwifhat (WIF) $ 3.18 6.48%