Hot Factory Data and Cool Rate Prospects Keep the Markets Humming
European stocks booked solid early gains Friday after strong factory data underpinned the region's economic recovery and an influential policymaker at the European Central Bank poured cold water on prospects for an early interest rate hike.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index, the broadest measure of share prices, was marked 0.5% higher in the opening hour of trading as markets around the region extended gains amid a decline in the single currency, which fell 0.21% to 1.1884 against the U.S. dollar after Ewald Nowotny, who heads Austria's central bank, said that as long as Eurozone inflation remains low, there's no need to increase ECB interest rates.
Those remarks came just before IHS Markit published its final reading of manufacturing sector activity around the currency area last month, which held at the highest levels since 2011 and has remained above the mark which separates growth from contraction for 50 consecutive months.
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