European equities rose on Friday, as the rebound continues from a selloff caused by inflation fears, with mining stocks being the major drag on stock-market indexes in Europe after a slight fall in commodity prices.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 XX:SXXP rose 0.3%, while in London the FTSE 100 UK:UKX gained 0.7%. The CAC 40 FR:PX1 in Paris was 0.5% higher and Frankfurt’s DAX DX:DAX climbed 0.3%.
Dow industrials futures DJIA FUTURES were pointing up around 160 points, set for a strong open to continue gains after the index rallied 433 points on Thursday to close at 34,021.
European equities are rebounding from days of declines since the beginning of the week, largely driven by U.S. inflation fears, with the Stoxx 600 now just 1.5% below the record high hit on Monday, before the selloff.
Wall Street enjoyed a strong rebound on Thursday, reversing a near 4% fall on the S&P 500 SPX index over the week, and Asian and European stocks are playing catch-up.
“Technology stocks remain under pressure, but investors are turning to value stocks, which helped the broader market to recover,” said Milan Cutkovic, an analyst at Axi. “The fact that Europe’s stock indices are not dominated by technology stocks turned out to be an advantage in the current market environment.”
In the day ahead, investors will closely watch U.S. retail sales figures for April, which will provide more insight into consumer spending as the world’s largest economy reopens. In Europe, the European Central Bank will release the minutes from its April meeting.
Accompanying the rally in stocks was a fall in commodity prices late on Thursday. Benchmark Brent UK:BRENT CRUDE crude remains down around 4% from Wednesday, from near $70, hovering around $67. Copper futures COPPER were down near 1% and iron ore futures TIOK1 slipped 2.5%.
The London-listed mining giants added drag to the FTSE 100, with nonenergy minerals the weakest sector in the CAC 40 as well. Shares in Rio Tinto UK:RIO, Glencore UK:GLEN, Anglo American UK:AAL, BHP UK:BHP, and Antofagasta UK:ANTO fell.
Shares in U.K. enterprise software group Sage UK:SGE rose 3%, after it posted half-year results with earnings-per-share ahead of analyst expectations. The group also guided that its margins would trend upward beyond 2021.
Sportswear giant Adidas XE:ADS was a standout in Germany, with the stock up 1.5%. The New York Post reported on Thursday that Authentic Brands and Wolverine World Wide — the footwear group behind Merrell and Hush Puppies — had made an offer of more than $1 billion to buy Reebok.
Shares in Sanne UK:SNN, a U.K. asset management services group and constituent of the midcap FTSE 250 UK:MCX index, soared 26% higher after its board rejected a £1.35 billion buyout proposal from private-equity group Cinven.
European food-delivery group Delivery Hero XE:DHER saw its stock slide 3%, days after announcing that it would re-enter its competitive home market of Germany in June. Delivery Hero sold its German operations to rival Just Eat Takeaway NL:TKWY two years ago.
Shares in French foods group Danone FR:BN slipped near 2%, after investment bank Goldman Sachs GS downgraded the stock to sell.