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* European stocks at highest in over a year
* ECB set for Mario Draghi's final policy meeting
* 2018 Tesla shares jump 21%, Microsoft gains, too
* Investors ignore earnings miss from Caterpiller, Boeing
By Marc Jones
LONDON, Oct 24 (Reuters) - Europe's traders were sending
European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi off in style on
Thursday, raising the region's stocks to their highest in more
than a year and nudging the euro towards its best month since
January 2018.
Upbeat earnings from Microsoft and Mercedes maker Daimler,
along with a ceasefire in northern Syria had also lifted the
mood, though trade and Brexit uncertainties and some below-par
German data prevented more sizable gains. .EU
The list of landmarks was nevertheless still impressive. The
pan-European Stoxx 600 .STOXX rose 0.3% to its highest since
May 2018. Germany's DAX .DAX wasn't far behind and the euro,
although a shade lower, was consolidating its 2.1% October
advance at $1.1130. EUR= .
Wall Street futures were higher, Asia had cheered a one-year
high for Tokyo's Nikkei and MSCI All World index
.MIWD00000PUS , which tracks nearly 50 countries, was at its
highest since late July. .MIWD00000PUS .T
"Draghi is in a situation where bond yields are higher and
the collapse we saw over the summer is reversing, the euro has
steadied itself and everything is fine, except for the PMIs of
course," said Societe Generale's Kit Juckes. "And he's handing
over an empty monetary policy toolkit."
The ECB's statement brought little new news. The bank said
last month it would restart stimulus. But the focus was firmly
on Draghi's 1230 GMT final wisdom, seven years on after his
'whatever it takes' promise, calmed the euro debt crisis.
There won't been any champagne in Frankfurt though.
Inflation remains well below the ECB's target and the purchasing
manager data had shown business activity in the euro bloc
stagnating again in October.
Germany's export-dependent manufacturing sector also
remained in contraction, suggesting a third-quarter slowdown in
Europe's largest economy could stretch into the closing months
of the year.
"Things are really not getting any better yet. A slight
improvement in October PMIs can't mask the fact that growth has
almost stalled. The overall picture is one of a feeble economy,"
said Bert Colijn at ING.
The data had also knocked the wind out of the euro after it
had started the day brightly, but bond yields were broadly
steady and there were plenty of other things going on too.
The Swedish crown rose 0.7% after its central bank stuck
with plans to raise its interest rates in December. Its gains
pulled the Norwegian crown higher as well, despite a relatively
dovish message from the Norges Bank which left its rates
unchanged.
Turkey was the real mover though. It slashed its rates 250
basis points to 14% from 16.5%, a day after U.S. President
Donald Trump lifted sanctions on Turkey following a ceasefire in
northern Syria. DREAMS
On Wall Street third-quarter earnings reports remained
center stage with investors trying to gauge the fallout from a
prolonged U.S.-China trade war, which has already shown up in
the domestic economy.
On Wednesday, the Dow .DJI and the Nasdaq .IXIC added
0.2% each and the S&P 500 .SPX gained 0.3% Tesla
TSLA.O shares jumped 21% in after-hours trading after the
company reported an unexpected third-quarter profit.
Microsoft MSFT.O was looking good too after posting
forecast-beating profit and revenue numbers after the closing
bell, although the outlook was darkened by slower-than-expected
take-up of its Azure cloud services.
Shares of Boeing Co BA.N and Caterpillar Inc CAT.N
meanwhile had ended about 1% higher each despite big earnings
misses. "We have been down this road before with CAT," RBC Capital
Markets' chief economist Tom Porcelli said in a note titled
Still Waiting For Recession. "If you keep saying a recession is
here, it is a mathematical certainty that at some point you will
be right. Maybe try again after CAT's next quarterly earnings
report."
So far, results from about 125 of the S&P 500 companies are
out with analysts expecting earnings to have declined 2.9%
year-over-year, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
BREXTENSION
Sterling GBP= paused at $1.29 after rising 0.3% on
Wednesday. After more than three years, Britain appears closer
than ever to resolving its Brexit conundrum but still has
hurdles to clear.
EU member states on Wednesday delayed a decision on whether
to grant Britain a three-month Brexit extension. Prime Minister
Boris Johnson said if the deadline is deferred to the end of
January, he would call an election.
"The Brexit battle looks like it will drag on," economists
at ANZ wrote in a note, summing what most weary Westminster
watchers were feeling.
With the euro EUR=D3 treading water, The Japanese yen
JPY= was 0.1% higher at 108.6 per dollar and the Australian
dollar AUD=D3 was weaker at $0.6842.
The dollar index .DXY was lower at 97.452 against a basket
of six major currencies, heading for its worst month since
January 2018.
In commodity markets, oil steadied above $61 a barrel on as
concern over the demand outlook offset a surprise drop in U.S.
crude inventories and the prospect of further action by OPEC and
its allies to support the market.
Brent crude LCOc1 was unchanged at $61.17 a barrel, having
jumped 2.5% on Wednesday. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI)
crude CLc1 was down 10 cents at $55.87 and gold XAU= barely
budged at $1,491.50 an ounce. O/R GOL/
Asia stock markets https://tmsnrt.rs/2zpUAr4
Asia-Pacific valuations https://tmsnrt.rs/2Dr2BQA
Inflation, unemployment during the Draghi era https://tmsnrt.rs/2IXunV6
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