Today, a sharp two-day decline in stock prices on European exchanges has been halted, triggered by worse-than-expected U.S. macroeconomic indicators and investor fears of a double-dip recession.
The FTSEurofirst index of 300 leading European stocks was up 0.3 percent at 1,039 points at 9:30 AM. It has lost nearly 2 percent in the past two days. The Frankfurt DAX, London FTSE, and Paris CAC indices were up between 0.09 and 0.2 percent at 9:30 AM. "The latest data from the U.S. has revived fears of a double-dip recession and prompted a flight of investors to safer investments such as government bonds. However, we will have to wait until autumn to get a clearer picture of economic prospects," says Bertrand Michaud, an analyst at Louis Capital.
Recently sharply corrected stock prices of energy companies are recording the largest gains this morning, driven by investors’ hopes that acquisitions in that sector will intensify. The stock of Dana Petroleum rose by 5.7 percent after the Korean state oil company Korea National Oil Corp announced a hostile takeover of the British oil exploration company, valued at $2.6 billion. Total shares increased by 0.6 percent, and Repsol by 0.7 percent. On the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the Nikkei index fell by 1.96 percent to 9,179 points. (H)
