European bourses closed higher on Monday after Hillary Clinton was again cleared of any wrongdoing by the FBI and investors put their money back into shares.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 finished up 1.53 percent with all major bourses posting strong gains.
All sectors were positive with banks and basic resources stocks outperforming peers, increasing more than 2 percent. Unicredit, HSBC and Deutsche Bank were all trading higher with the latter receiving a price target upgrade from Black Knight.
Meanwhile in the U.S., Wall Street continued to surge higher, in large part due to the FBI absolving the democratic presidential nominee of any wrongdoing. A final NBC/Wall Street Journal poll puts Clinton into a four-point lead over Donald Trump.
On the eve of the 2016 U.S. election, both European and U.S. stocks rallied as uncertainty appeared to disperse and Clinton seeks to benefit from a renewed sense of momentum.
Jasper Lawler, market analyst with CMC Markets said in a note, “FBI Director James Comey announcing no criminal wrongdoing in a latest batch of Hillary Clinton emails gives her the unexpected opportunity for a last hurrah before polling starts on Tuesday. The perception in markets is that this should edge Hillary Clinton over the finishing line.”
Earlier on Sunday, a final NBC/Wall Street Journal poll gave a four-point lead to Hillary Clinton over her opponent Donald Trump.
Continuing the earnings season, HSBC and Ryanair presented their figures Monday. HSBC announced worse results than forecast, with pretax profit dropping 86 percent in the third quarter. However, shares on Monday ended up more than 4.6 percent.
Ryanair posted a profit after tax of 1.17 billion euros ($1.30 billion) in the first six months of 2016, in line with expectations. As a result, Ryanair’s shares had hit the top of the Stoxx 600, rising more than 5 percent.
Also performing at the top of the Stoxx 600 were the shares of Postnl, after it rebuffed an improved takeover offer from its Belgian rival Bpost.
Oil prices were up Monday after the secretary general of OPEC reinforced the group’s commitment to reach an output deal later this month. Brent was trading 0.11 percent higher at $45.58 a barrel and U.S. crude was rising 0.66 percent at $44.07.
Meanwhile, data released Monday showed German industrial orders dropping in September due to weaker demand at home and overseas. However, the German economy ministry said that the number of orders for the entire third quarter were positive.
Source: CNBC
