European Markets Advanced, German Current Account Surplus Widened

Bridgette Randall
13 Nov, 2023
Frankfurt

European markets advanced on the first day of this week, and bond yields hovered near two-month lows.

Benchmark indexes in Frankfurt, London, and Paris edged higher after mixed trading in the previous week.

The CAC-40 index declined for the first time after advancing for seven weeks in a row, and market indexes in Frankfurt struggled to extend this year's gain.

Investors also looked ahead to inflation data from the U.S. and Eurozone later in the week.

 

German Current Account Surplus Expanded

Germany's current account surplus widened to €28.1 billion from €12.5 billion a year ago, the Bundesbank reported Monday.

The goods surplus soared to €22.5 billion from €11.1 billion, reflecting an 18.6% decline in imports and a 9.2% fall in exports, but the service sector deficit declined to €6.1 billion from €6.5 billion.

The primary income surplus rose to €15.8 billion from €12.4 billion, and the secondary income deficit fell to €4.0 billion from €4.5 billion a year ago.

 

Europe Indexes and Yields

The DAX index increased 0.5% to 15,309.01, the CAC-40 index advanced 0.7% to 7,093.52, and the FTSE 100 index added 0.6% to 7,406.19.

The yield on 10-year German bonds increased to 2.70%, French bonds traded higher to 3.27%, the UK gilts edged up to 4.31%, and Italian bonds inched lower to 4.53%.

The euro rebounded to $1.069, the British pound at $1.22, and the U.S. dollar at 90.20 Swiss cents.

Brent crude increased $0.02 to $81.44 a barrel, and the Dutch TTF natural gas edged lower by €1.76 to €44.86 per MWh.

 

Europe Stock Movers

Bilfinger SE added 1.9% to €36.02 after the civil and industrial construction and engineering company reiterated its annual outlook.

Salzgitter AG jumped 3% to €26.06 after the specialty steel company confirmed its fiscal year 2023 annual estimate.

Q.Beyond AG decreased 1.6% to €0.60 after the German software company reported a wider loss in the first nine months of the year.

The British Land Company soared 4.8% to 328.70 pence after the real estate company reported strong first-half results.

Tullow Oil plc soared 8% to 32.84 pence after the oil explorer entered into a five-year loan agreement with Glencore Energy UK Ltd.

Phoenix Group Holdings PLC advanced 6% to 492.40 pence after the UK-based insurance company lifted its cash generation target.

The company estimated cash generation at the upper end of the previously announced range between £1.3 billion and £1.4 billion.

The company declared a cash dividend of 26 pence per share, an increase of 5% from a year ago.

Insurance revenue increased to £2.9 billion from £2.6 billion, and loss attributable to shareholders declined to £245 million from £1.2 billion, and diluted loss per share fell to 27.1 pence from 130.4 pence a year ago.

Novo Nordisk AS advanced 3.2% to DKK 713.50 on a report that a trial showed its obesity drug Wegovy lowered the death risk.

The company announced the overall results of the trial in August but released details of the trial on Saturday at an industry conference organized by the American Heart Association.

The company asserted that overall cardiovascular problems declined by 20%, cardiovascular-related death by 15%, and heart strokes by 7%.

The trial covered 17,600 patients with obesity and existing heart disease without diabetes, and the trial did not look at the reasons for cardiovascular benefits and how much of that was contributed by weight loss.