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European stocks were poised for a third straight positive session on Wednesday, while U.S. equity futures traded mixed, a day after Wall Street technology stocks came roaring back from a selloff. Banks and oil names were underpinning Europe’s gains.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index SXXP, +0.09% rose 0.3%, after gaining 0.7% on Tuesday. The German DAX DAX, +0.28% rose 0.3%, the French CAC PX1, +0.42% gained 0.6%, and the FTSE 100 UKX, -0.15% was flat. Dollar strength DXY, +0.11% weighed on the pound GBPUSD, -0.01% and euro EURUSD, -0.04%.
U.S. stock futures ES00, +0.02% YM00, +0.24% NQ00, -0.14% pointed to a mixed start for Wall Street after major benchmarks rallied on Tuesday, with falling bond yields helping drive the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite COMP, +3.69% to its best one-day percentage gain since early November 2020. That came a day after the index tumbled into correction territory.
Investors will keep watch on bonds, with the yield on the 10-year Treasury note TMUBMUSD10Y, 1.567% down 3 basis points at 1.55% ahead of an auction later and key U.S. inflation data. The yield on the 10-year German bund TMBMKDE-10Y, -0.294% was holding steady at -0.294%.
A monetary policy decision by the European Central Bank looms for Thursday, and traders will be looking for comments about the rise in bond yields. While yields have been rising less dramatically in Europe, the central bank has been more vocal about that.
Read: Eurozone banks are showing life after 15 rough years. Will the ECB snuff out the rally?
Shares of Inditex ITX, -1.00% fell 1.5%, after the Spanish owner of fashion chain Zara and others reported a drop in profit and sales for 2020, though the company reported sharp growth in e-commerce and said it would pay a dividend for the year.
Shares of Adidas ADS, +5.45% jumped 3%, after the German sporting-goods group said e-commerce and retail sales helped it return to slight growth in the last quarter of 2020. The company also sees strong rebounds for top and bottom lines and margins in 2021.
Shares of Just Eat Takeaway.com TKWY, +3.10% rose 2%. The Dutch food-delivery group reported a wider loss for 2020 due to acquisition and integration costs, but also forecast stronger order growth this year. Just Eat is in the process of acquiring U.S. peer Grubhub GRUB, +4.82%.
Among the heavily weighted decliners, shares of miner Rio Tinto RIO, -2.44% RIO, -1.77% dropped 2%. Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets, said shares of Rio and BHP are taking a hit from weaker iron ore prices.
Elsewhere, Anglo American AAL, -0.33% shares rose 1%, after the miner said rough-diamond sales by its De Beers unit jumped 52% in the second sales cycle of 2021, annually.
Shares of energy names Total TOT, -0.66% FP, +1.36% and Royal Dutch Shell RDS.A, -0.35% RDS.B, -0.51% RDSA, +0.54% were up 1% each, while major banks such as BNP Paribas BNP, +0.57% and UBS UBS, -0.57% UBSG, +0.65% were also up more than 1% each.
