Europe open: Stocks track Wall Street higher ahead of data barrage
Equities on the Continent began the day higher tracking another record close for the S&P 500 on the other side of the Pond as US central bank chief Janet Yellen delivered an upbeat view on the economic outlook the day before.
As of 0815 GMT, the benchmark pan-European Stoxx 600 was higher by 0.29% to 371.28 and the Dax by 0.46% at 11,826.14 as the Cac-40 edged higher by 0.23% to 4,906.07.
Commenting on Yellen´s speech, Jim Reid at Deutsche Bank said: "The possibility of a March move was left open but at the same time that wasn’t particularly surprising and in any case there was no great guidance on timing of the next hike."
Rebecca O'Keefe, head of Investment at stockbroker Interactive Investor, was of a similar opinion: "The underlying support that investors have come to expect from central banks remains, and while Janet Yellen may want the market to appreciate that the Fed could start becoming more hawkish, investors are relying on the assumption that global central banks will continue to act in a broadly supportive role and remain the market's friend."
In economic news, consumer prices in Spain, the euro area´s fourth largest economy, retreated at a 1.0% month-on-month clip in January (consensus: 0.9%), which led to a dip in the year-on-year rate from 3.0% to 2.9%.
On Wednesday's economic calendar, ONS was set to release January jobs data for January and Eurostat its latest estimate of foreign trade in December for the single currency bloc.
The most market sensitive reports however would be a trifecta of tier-one US data later in the day, including the latest on consumer prices, retail sales and industrial production.
Banks powered ahead in early trading, with the Stoxx 600 gauge of lenders' shares tacking on 1.39% to 178.37.
Boosting shares in that sector, ABN Amro reported fourth quarter net income of €333m, beating analysts' forecasts.
Credit Agricole also delivered better than expected numbers, with a writedown of its French retail arm failing to dent the bank's bottom line by as much as feared.
In other news, Danone served up a new €1.0bn cost-cutting plan.