LONDON, May 15 — Europe’s main stock markets rebounded somewhat today, having tanked a day earlier on spiking jobless claims in the United States and festering coronavirus worries.
In early morning trade, European indices tempered their opening gains, with London’s FTSE 100 index up by 1.3 per cent.
In the eurozone, Frankfurt won 1.3 per cent, Madrid rose by 0.6 per cent, Milan gained 0.8 per cent and Paris added 1.1 per cent, despite a subdued session in Asia.
“European indices ... managed to recover a little ground in early trade on Friday,” said Markets.com analyst Neil Wilson.
“Asian shares have largely drifted into the weekend with no clear direction.”
Asian markets were mixed Friday, at the end of a tough week for global equities that have been wracked by worries over a second wave of infections, rising China-US tensions and uncertainty about how long an economic recovery could take.
A generally downbeat mood was compounded by another spike in US jobless claims and overshadowed news several countries were easing strict lockdown measures that have kept billions of people holed up at home, strangling the world economy. — AFP
