European stocks were panic-bid at the open overnight as hungover New Year's Eve revelers (absent Brits and Swiss who were still on holiday) bought Italian banks, German utilities, and Spanish industrials following the better than expected manufacturing PMIs across most nations. EuroStoxx 50 gained 0.6% - thanks to a spike near the open - for the best open to a year since 2013.
The action was all at the open following a knee-jerk lower in EURUSD (snapping below 1.0500)...
But notably across most of the individual exchanges, stocks were sold into the close...
Finally, as Bloomberg reports, for Stephane Barbier de la Serre, a strategist at Makor Capital Markets in Geneva, the consensus for Europe’s economic growth this year remains very cautious, which means any positive surprises in macroeconomic data may spur further gains in stocks:
“There’s a lack of commitment and conviction,” de la Serre said. “Most institutional investors are still underweight European equities, betting on a pull-back after the rally of the past few weeks, so we could see a bear trap in the first weeks of the year.”