Europe midday: Stocks put in small bounce

Stocks across the Continent are rebounding, but only feebly following the thrashing endured during the prior session.

"Markets appear to have stabilised after yesterday’s crash in global equities, with traders attempting to figure out whether this is finally the beginning of the second major selloff," said IG analyst Josh Mahony.

"We appear to be shifting from a phase where everyone looks towards the reopening as a cause for optimism, to one where we begin to refocus on Covid case numbers with trepidation."

As of noon, the Stoxx 600 was 1.09% higher at 356.92, alongside a 0.84% rise for the German Dax to 12,069.68 while the FTSE Mibtel was adding 1.11% to 19,014.75.

In parallel, front month Brent crude oil futures were up by 0.5% at $38.5 a barrel on ICE.

The flow of economic data out of the euro area continued to make for grim reading.

Eurostat reported a 17.1% month-on-month fall in Eurozone industrial production for May (consensus: -20.0%), taking the year-on-year rate of decline to 28.0% (consensus: -28.8%).

But according to Pantheon Macroeconomics's Claus Vistensen, the figures, while "terrible" were "not worth dwelling on".

"This is by far the largest monthly decline ever recorded, but it doesn’t mean anything for markets, which have been trading on the rebound for well over a month now," he said.

French consumer price data for May meanwhile were revised higher to show an annual increase of 0.4% (Preliminary: 0.2%), while in Spain CPI for the same month was confirmed at down by 0.9%.