Europe midday: Stoxx gains on Wall St records

(Sharecast News) - European markets were higher on Friday on the back of a record-setting session on Wall Street overnight.

The pan-regional Stoxx 600 was up 0.17% to 582, with all major bourses following suit.

US stocks finished in mixed fashion on Thursday, though the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged to a new all-time high on the back of strong gains from high-priced stocks like Goldman Sachs, American Express and Visa.

The price-weighted Dow, which is susceptible to volatile swings when stocks like Goldman (which accounts for 11.5% of the index) make big moves, finished 1.3% higher at 48,704.01 - topping an earlier peak of 48,254.82 reached on 12 November.

The S&P 500 also hit a new high but rose just 0.2% on the day to 6,901 - surpassing a late-October record of 6,890.89 - with big falls from Oracle limiting upside.

"The rotation trade notched up a gear, sending the benchmark S&P500 and the Dow Jones to new record closing highs, while the Nasdaq index failed to keep pace," said Richard Hunter, head of markets at interactive investor.

"Concerns around overinvestment and the likely returns in AI have been on the table for some time, and Oracle continues to be the canary in the coal mine as its shares fell by around 11%. A disappointing quarterly revenue return and higher spending estimates raised fears over its debt position, with an inevitable read across to the bellwethers in the space such as Nvidia."

"Investors are therefore searching for alternative real assets, especially given the Federal Reserve rate cut and the possibility of more to come, with any rate rises having now been ruled out."

In economic news, inflation in Germany held steady in November, according to final estimates from the Federal Statistical Office on Friday, matching preliminary numbers.

The year-on-year change in the consumer price index was 2.3% last month, in line with October and down from 2.4% in September, Destatis reported.

Services inflation continues to prop up overall prices, remaining elevated at 3.5% in November, with strong increases registered across passenger transport, social facilities and package holidays.

However, food inflation slowed to a 10-month low of 1.2% in November, down from 1.3% the month before and below the long-run average.

Meanwhile, energy prices slipped 0.1% on last year, with deflation easing significantly from the 0.9% drop reported in October.

Excluding the more volatile food and energy items, core inflation slipped to 2.7% in November from 2.8% in October.

On the equities front, Polish retailer LPP surged after setting new financial targets driven by its Sinsay budget brand.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com