(RTTNews) – After showing a lack of direction early in the session, European stocks moved mostly higher over the course of the trading day on Friday.
The major European markets all moved to the upside after closing mixed for two straight days. The French CAC 40 Index climbed by 0.4 percent, the German DAX Index rose by 0.3 percent and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index inched up by 0.1 percent.
The strength that emerged in the European markets came as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s highly-anticipated speech before the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium generated optimism about the outlook for interest rates.
While Powell reiterated the Fed would “proceed cautiously,” he also said the “baseline outlook and the shifting balance of risks may warrant adjusting our policy stance.”
Following Powell’s remarks, CME Group’s FedWatch Tool is currently indicating an 85.3 percent chance the Fed will lower rates by a quarter point next month, up from 75.0 percent on Thursday.
In regional economic releases, the German economy shrank more than initially estimated in the second quarter, the latest data from Destatis revealed.
Gross domestic product fell 0.3 percent sequentially, reversing a 0.3 percent growth in the first quarter. In the flash estimate, the economy showed a contraction of 0.1 percent.
Elsewhere, the confidence among French manufacturers held steady in August, as expected, monthly data from the statistical office INSEE revealed. The manufacturing sentiment index stood at 96.0 in August, the same as in July.
In corporate news, Beauty retailer Revolution Beauty skyrocketed by 25.4 percent after successfully raising £15 million through a placing and subscription of new ordinary shares.
Dulux paints maker AkzoNobel also surged by 6.8 percent after activist investor Cevian Capital took a 3 percent stake in the company, according to a filing by Dutch market regulator AFM.
French train manufacturer Alstom also jumped by 2.2 percent on winning a £75 million eight-year maintenance contract with Great Western Railway.
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