Despite the protectionist moves of U.S. President Donald Trump and the drop in stock prices on Asian markets during the night, the major indices on European exchanges managed to slightly strengthen on Wednesday morning, thanks to the rise in stock prices of Adidas and mining companies.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index was up 0.2 percent around 9:30 AM.
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At the same time, the London FTSE index was also up 0.2 percent, at 7,153 points, the Frankfurt DAXC by 0.14 percent, at 12,237 points, and the Paris CAC by 0.17 percent, at 5,251 points.
Of the major indices, only the Spanish Ibex was in the red, down half a percent, under pressure from a 5.1 percent drop in the stock price of Inditex, the owner of the Zara fashion chain, due to disappointing sales results.
Adidas Raises Target Profit
The German sports company Adidas raised its target profit for 2020 and announced a share buyback plan worth 3 billion euros, which boosted its stock price by 8.8 percent.
Shares of mining companies also significantly increased, on average by 1.1 percent, as the latest data on Chinese industrial production indicated strong growth. In the first two months of this year, Chinese industrial production rose by 7.2 percent, according to data from the Chinese statistical office. This is above expectations, considering the consensus among analysts for a production growth of 6.1 percent.
