In This Article:
Economic Calendar:
Tuesday, 24th March
French Manufacturing PMI (Mar) Prelim
French Services PMI (Mar) Prelim
German Manufacturing PMI (Mar) Prelim
German Services PMI (Mar) Prelim
Eurozone Manufacturing PMI (Mar) Prelim
Eurozone Markit Composite PMI (Mar) Prelim
Eurozone Services PMI (Mar) Prelim
Wednesday, 25th March
German IFO Business Climate Index (Mar)
French Jobseekers Total
Thursday, 26th March
GfK German Consumer Climate (Apr)
ECB Economic Bulletin
The Majors
It was back into the red for the European majors at the start of the week, with the EuroStoxx600 sliding by 4.3% to lead the way down. The DAX30 and CAC40 weren’t far behind, with losses of 2.1% and 3.32% respectively.
While the markets continued to balk at the rising number of coronavirus cases across Europe and the U.S, it was failings in the U.S that did the damage.
News of the U.S government coming to an impasse on the COVID-19 Stimulus Bill added to the downward pressure on the majors.
The markets had been expecting a bipartisan passing of the Bill only to read of quite the opposite over the weekend.
Late in the session, there was brief support following another bazooka from the FED. The FED came to the rescue with a range of measures, this time around assuring rather than spooking the markets.
The upside was brief, however, with the failed stimulus plan from the U.S and continued spread of the virus ultimately weighing. From Europe and the U.S, the news wires certainly didn’t help the cause, as the markets continued to get bombarded with negative news.
Airlines announced the grounding of entire fleets, while governments continued to enforce stricter containment measures. The stricter measures spell more bad news for the global economy. On the policy front, the jury is also still out on just how much impact fiscal and monetary policy moves will have near-term.
The Stats
It was a quiet day on the Eurozone economic calendar on Monday. The Eurozone’s flash consumer confidence for March was in focus.
The Eurozone’s consumer confidence indicator fell from -6.6 to -11.6 in March, according to prelim figures. Economists had forecast a slide to -14.2. Better than forecast numbers were of little consolation on the day, however.
From the U.S, there were no material stats to influence, leaving the impasse on Capitol Hill in focus.
The Market Movers
For the DAX: It was a mixed day for the auto sector. BMW fell by 0.01% to buck the trend on the day. Continental and Daimler found strong support, rallying by 4.15% and 4.07% respectively, with Volkswagen gaining 2.87%.