Europe open: Markets rise as China waives tariffs, German data eyed
European stocks were higher on Friday morning after China dialled back some of its tariffs on US goods, while German factory data missed expectations.
At 0905 GMT, the Stoxx 600 was 0.3% higher at 403.72, as Germany's Dax climbed by 0.2% to 13,076.77 and the French CAC 40 rose by 0.4% to 5,824.23. Meanwhile, London's FTSE 100 was up by 0.5% at 7,171.93.
As ever, Sino-US trade was in focus after Beijing's finance ministry said it would waive tariffs on some American soybean and pork imports, while US President Donald Trump said trade negotiations were "moving right along".
Markets.com analyst Neil Wilson said: "Nevertheless, the toing and froing of trade talks continues - we’ll be waiting for any fresh signal and will only believe a deal once it’s been served up on the table, not when the chefs say it’s in the oven."
On the macroeconomic front, data released by Destatis earlier showed that German industrial production fell month-on-month by 1.7% in October, missing expectations of a 0.1% increase.
On the year, production was down 5.3% from a revised 4.5% decline in September and below consensus forecasts of a 3.6% fall.
Pantheon Macroeconomics analyst Claus Vistesen said: "This is not a pretty headline. Coupled with the soft retail sales report, the hard data now suggest that the German economy weakened further at the start of Q4. The headline was stung by a 4.4% month-to-month plunge in production of capital goods, extending weakness from the 1.6% slide in September.
"Output of intermediate and consumer goods, however, rose restoring a bit of optimism."
Among individual stocks, luxury jacket and ski wear-maker Moncler continued to rise after reports on Thursday suggested that France’s Kering could be interested in buying the company. Other luxury stocks followed suit once again, with Hugo Boss, Burberry, LVMH and Hermes also in the green.
Swiss Re climbed on the news that Phoenix Group is aiming to snap up its British insurance unit for £3.2bn.
French pharmaceutical outfit Ipsen tumbled after the US food and drug administration halted clinical studies into the effects of its Palovarotene fibrodysplasia drug treatment, citing safety concerns.
Carl Zeiss was also sharply lower despite the German optical systems manufacturer expressing confidence that it would exceed the growth rate of underlying markets in its new financial year.