(MENAFN– ecpulse)
European equities market turned mixed to slightly higher in the opening minutes of Tuesday’s session, mirroring gains in U.S. stock index futures after the U.S. Senate voted to confirm Janet Yellen as the next head of the Federal Reserve.
In a vote yesterday, U.S. Senate approved Janet Yellen’s nomination as head of Federal Reserve, making her the first woman ever to hold that post in the 100-year history of the U.S. central bank.
Yellen, repeatedly defended the central bank`s ultra-easy monetary policy and argued that unemployment remains too high for the central bank to consider significantly scaling back its asset purchase program.
In other news, U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew starts a series of visits to Europe this week, where he is expected o visit France and meets President François Hollande and Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici, to discuss economic developments in Europe.
The Stoxx 600 which fell more than 2 percent in the previous session to record its worst one-day drop since August, edged up 0.08 percent or 0.26 points to 312.08 as of 3:55 ET.
- STX Europe 50 rose 0.20 percent to 2,905.96
- Euro Stoxx gained 0.08 percent to 312.08
Unemployment in Germany declined by 15,000 in December, beating 1,000 decline expected. While the jobless rate remained unchanged at 6.9 percent. Unemployment increased for a fourth month in November, rising 10,000.
In UK, the British Chambers of Commerce revealed yesterday that economy is growing at a solid pace and could even strengthen in the short term, where based on the responses from nearly 8,000 firms in both manufacturing and services, economy is forecasted to grow by 0.9 percent in the fourth quarter.
-The British FTSE 100 increased 0.12% or 8.20 points to 6,738.93
-The French CAC 40 fell 0.10% or 4.10 points to 4,223.44
-Frankfurt’s DAX inched 0.06% or 5.71 points higher to 9,433.71
Asian shares turned in a mixed performance, with a disappointing report on U.S. service sector activity capping gains. The U.S. ISM services of last month; came out unpleasantly at 53.0 from 53.9, yet the index remain above 50 confirming that business activities continue on supporting growth.
Underlying sentiment remains cautious as investors await a raft of data from the U.S. and China due this week. Investors await inflation and trade figures from China due later in the week for direction after business surveys of both manufacturing and services sectors showed signs of a slowdown in December.
Investors will be looking ahead to Wednesday`s release of minutes from the Fed`s recent policy meeting, first policy decisions from the European Central Bank and Bank of England for this year on Thursday, and finally, Friday`s closely-watched U.S. jobs report.
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