European stocks turn positive, focus shifts to Trump

The stocks on the European bourses opened Wednesday on a flat note, as the US futures stalled their upside amid a lack of momentum, as traders switch on the side-lines ahead of Trump’s first address as the US president-elect scheduled at 1600GMT today.

The European equities erased early losses and turned positive over the last hour as sentiment improved somewhat amid recovering oil prices and US treasury yields, both signaling resurgence of demand for risky assets.

The region’s indices were supported by higher metals and mining stocks, after the metals rallied amid hopes of some comments by Trump on infrastructure spending and upbeat Chinese PPI data. Also, strong gains in the telecom and auto sector stocks also helped the equities to jump back into the green zone.  

CNBC reported the German carmaker Volkswagen has reached a $4.3 billion draft settlement deal with US authorities over the emission scandal.  Its shares rose 1.2%.

Meanwhile Germany's DAX 30 index trades +0.31% higher at 11,620 levels, while the UK’s FTSE 100 index advances +0.20% to trade around 7,290. Among other indices, the French CAC 40 index rises +0.21% to 4,900 levels. The pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 index adds +0.13% to trade near 3,310.