Stocks maintain November reign, oil nagged by OPEC doubts
By Marc Jones
LONDON (Reuters) — World equity markets added to their best month since the COVID vaccine breakthroughs of late 2020 on Thursday as Europe digested another far-right election shock and oil skidded after OPEC+ postponed its weekend meeting.
Traders were getting their moves in despite the annual U.S. Thanksgiving holiday scything volumes but there was plenty to keep them busy while they did it.
Slightly stronger than expected German, French and UK PMI data nudged the euro, sterling and bond yields higher, Sweden's crown dropped as its central bank left rates on hold while Dutch bank stocks fell after anti-European Union far-right populist Geert Wilders scored a huge election win.
The PMI beats were «not enough to say we have turned the corner on the economy,» said Close Brothers Asset Management chief investment officer Robert Alster, adding that activity in Germany and France had still contracted.
«Holland is a genuine surprise as a win for the right, but I suspect the market will wait to see what happens in terms of a coalition.»
A fan of Hungary's eurosceptic Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the vocally anti-Islam Wilders has vowed to halt all immigration, slash Dutch payments to the EU and block the entrance of any new members, including Ukraine.
Beating all predictions, his Freedom Party (PVV) won 37 seats out of 150, well ahead of 25 for a joint Labour/Green ticket and 24 for the conservative People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) of outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
ECB MINUTES
For traders, the next thing was the minutes of the European Central Bank's most recent meeting that showed cautious optimism about their inflation fighting efforts.
«Overall, the process of disinflation seemed to be
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