European markets closed higher on Wednesday, as investors monitored corporate earnings from big names around the globe, along with economic data and the Covid-19 situation.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 closed up 0.6% by mid-afternoon, having earlier notched a fresh record high. Tech stocks climbed 2% to lead gains while oil and gas stocks fell 0.5%.
Back in Europe, Tuesday’s earnings round showed that the global semiconductor shortage is likely to continue weighing on carmakers, as both BMW and Stellantis warned that production and sales will be hampered throughout the remainder of 2021 and beyond.
On the data front, final PMI (purchasing managers’ index) readings on Wednesday showed euro zone business activity surging in July to its fastest expansion in 15 years. The final composite PMI, seen as a useful gauge of economic health, rose to 60.2 from June’s 59.5. The 50 mark separates growth from contraction.
It was a different story in the U.K., where the composite PMI dropped sharply to 59.2 from June’s 62.2 after services were hit by hundreds of thousands of workers being forced into self-isolation by the government’s contact tracing app, as cases of the delta Covid-19 variant surged.
Reference: CNBC
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