By Barbara Kollmeyer
European stocks were logging a third straight positive session on Wednesday, as Wall Street stocks moved higher after inflation data that met expectations. Well-received earnings from Adidas and Just Eat Takeaway lifted those stocks.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index /zigman2/quotes/210599654/delayed XX:SXXP -0.06% rose 0.5%, after gaining 0.7% on Tuesday. The German DAX /zigman2/quotes/210597999/delayed DX:DAX +0.09% rose 0.7%, the French CAC /zigman2/quotes/210597958/delayed FR:PX1 +0.14% gained 0.90%, and the FTSE 100 /zigman2/quotes/210598409/delayed UK:UKX +0.17% was flat as big miners struggled. The pound /zigman2/quotes/210561263/realtime/sampled GBPUSD -0.0567% and euro /zigman2/quotes/210561242/realtime/sampled EURUSD -0.0092% clawed back ground against the dollar, which gave up earlier strength.
Inspiring gains on both sides of the Atlantic was data showing U.S. consumer prices coming in as expected in February which eased pressure on bond yields, after steadying yields on Tuesday’s helped drive the best one-day percentage gain for the Nasdaq /zigman2/quotes/210598365/realtime COMP -0.45% since early February.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note /zigman2/quotes/211347051/realtime BX:TMUBMUSD10Y +0.08% was last down 5 basis points to 1.53% ahead of an auction later. The yield on the 10-year German bund /zigman2/quotes/211347112/realtime BX:TMBMKDE-10Y +2.54% dipped 2 basis points to -0.316%.
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 it than the Federal Reserve.
Read: Eurozone banks are showing life after 15 rough years. Will the ECB snuff out the rally?
Among active stocks, shares of Adidas /zigman2/quotes/206448829/delayed XE:ADS +0.13% jumped 4%, lifting the DAX 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 /zigman2/quotes/201653805/delayed NL:TKWY +0.92% also rose 4%. 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 .
Drug company names were also climbing, with shares of Roche Holding /zigman2/quotes/206324342/delayed CH:ROG +0.02% up around 3%, AstraZeneca /zigman2/quotes/200304487/composite AZN -0.19% /zigman2/quotes/203048482/delayed UK:AZN -1.05% and Novo Nordisk /zigman2/quotes/203484366/composite NVO +0.40% /zigman2/quotes/207193277/delayed DK:NOVO.B -0.24% up over 1% each.
Shares of Inditex /zigman2/quotes/203681809/delayed ES:ITX -0.98% reversed an earlier loss, rising 0.8%. The Spanish owner of fashion chain Zara and others reported a drop in profit and sales for 2020 , but also reported sharp growth in e-commerce and said it would pay a dividend for the year.
Among the heavily weighted decliners, shares of miner Rio Tinto /zigman2/quotes/208934945/delayed UK:RIO +2.03% /zigman2/quotes/202627887/composite RIO +1.49% dropped 2%. Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets, said shares of Rio and BHP were taking a hit from weaker iron ore prices.
Shares of energy names Total and Royal Dutch Shell were up more than 1% each.
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