The FTSE is gaining this Monday on the back of a mining rally after the price of copper touched a 20-month high on the back thanks to supply worries.
BHP Billiton also gained after an attack on one of its mines in Chile at the weekend. Plus, the bourses in Germany were also higher after German drug maker Stada was was up over 14% after takeover reports hit the headlines. The firm confirmed yesterday it had received two offers, one for 3.5bn euros (£3bn) from private equity group Cinven. It didn't name the other bidder. The drugs major makes generic copies of drugs such as Viagra.
The European Commission has upped its growth forecasts for the eurozone over the next two years. The EC now predicts eurozone GDP will rise by 1.6% this year, up from 1.5% previously. It also expects growth to accelerate to 1.8% in 2018, up from 1.7%. But despite these positive numbers, the European Commission says the bloc faces "higher-than-usual uncertainty".
This is being fueled by the "still-to-be-clarified" intentions of US President Donald Trump, as well as the Brexit negotiations and elections in several EU countries. And the UK’s readings were low, with growth now expected to come in at 1.5% for the year compared to 2% last year.
OPEC’s monthly report was released today, revealing that the cartel is sticking to its word, with the producers delivering more than 90% of pledged oil output curbs in January. OPEC has agreed to cut its crude output by about 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) from Jan. 1 so still with 90% compliance, supply should still be impacted significantly.
Looking ahead to Tuesday there’s inflation reports due from UK, China and Germany as well as earnings from Rolls Royce, Daimler, TUI and TATA Motors.
--- Written by Katie Pilbeam, DailyFX
