European Equities: Manufacturing PMIs and Geopolitics in Focus

In This Article:

Economic Calendar:

Monday, 2nd December 2019

  • Spanish Manufacturing PMI (Nov)

  • Italian Manufacturing PMI (Nov)

  • French Manufacturing PMI (Nov) Final

  • German Manufacturing PMI (Nov) Final

  • Eurozone Manufacturing PMI (Nov) Final

Tuesday, 3rd December 2019

  • Spanish Unemployment Change

Wednesday, 4th December 2019

  • Spanish Services PMI (Nov)

  • Italian Services PMI (Nov)

  • French Services PMI (Nov) Final

  • German Services PMI (Nov) Final

  • Eurozone Markit Composite PMI (Nov) Final

  • Eurozone Services PMI (Nov) Final

Thursday, 5th December 2019

  • German Factory Orders (MoM) (Oct)

  • Eurozone GDP (QoQ) (Q3) 3rd Estimate

  • Eurozone GDP (YoY) (Q3) 3rd Estimate

  • Eurozone Retail Sales (MoM) (Oct)

Friday, 5th December 2019

  • German Industrial Production (MoM) (Oct)

The Majors

It was a day in the red for the European majors on Friday, with the EuroStoxx600 falling by 0.44% to lead the way down. The DAX30 and CAC40 saw more modest losses of 0.07% and 0.13% respectively.

News of U.S President Trump signing the HK Bill in the early hours of Thursday morning continued to pressure the markets.

China had yet to retaliate against Trump’s latest move that could materially impact progress towards a phase 1 trade agreement.

The Stats

It was a busy day on the Eurozone economic calendar on Friday. Key stats included retail sales and unemployment figures out of Germany and French GDP and consumer spending figures.

From  Germany, the stats were mixed on the day. Retail sales slid by 1.9% in October, reversing a 0.1% gain from September. Unemployment fell by 16k in November, however, which was better than a forecasted 5k rise.

The numbers will have eased concerns over labor market conditions, which should support confidence and a rebound in spending.

Out of France, the finalized GDP came in at 0.3%, which was in line with prelims. Consumer spending disappointed, however, with a 0.2% rise coming up short of a forecasted 0.3% increase. In September, spending had fallen by 0.3%.

Of less influence on the day were prelim November inflation figures out of France, Italy and the Eurozone.

There were no material stats from the U.S to provide direction. With the U.S markets on a half-day, volumes were on the lighter side late in the session.

The Market Movers

For the DAX: It was another bearish day for the auto sector. Continental slid by 1.79% to lead the way down. Daimler and Volkswagen were also amongst the worst performers, with losses of 1.52% and 0.84% respectively. BMW saw a more modest loss of 0.65% on the day.

It was also a bearish day for the banks. Deutsche Bank fell by 0.76%, with Commerzbank down by 0.21%.