EUROPE MARKETS: European Banks Continue To Rally After ECB Cut

By Steve Goldstein, MarketWatch

European banks advanced on Friday, continuing a rally as the European Central Bank took steps to improve the domestic economy while making it less painful to lenders.

The Euro Stoxx banks index rose as the central bank took several steps favorable to lenders -- cutting interest rate less than anticipated, making more holdings eligible for refinancing and introducing an exemption of part of the deposits that have been slapped with a negative rate (so-called tiering).

Bank of Ireland (BIRG.DB) , CaixaBank (CABK.MC) and AIB Group (A5G.DB) each rose about 4%.

The bank index has now climbed 12% over the last month, though it's still down 16% over the last 52 weeks.

The broader market gauges were less active, as the Stoxx Europe 600 gained 0.12% to 390.94.

The German DAX added 0.25% to 12441.44, the French CAC 40 increased 0.31% to 5660.59 and the U.K. FTSE 100 increased 0.06% to 7348.99,

Market focus turned back to the prospect of a U.S.-China trade deal. President Trump said he would consider an interim deal. "It's something we would consider, I guess," he told reporters. At a retreat with Congressional Republicans, Trump added he would consider a tax cut for "middle-income people," though it's not clear either what was planned or how that would get through a Democratic-controlled House of Representatives.

A wave of economic data is set for release, including U.S. retail sales for August.

Bollore (BOL.FR) , the French holding company with interests ranging from logistics to media, rose over 4% after reporting a first-half profit rise of 54% and declaring a dividend of 2 cents a share.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 13, 2019 05:18 ET (09:18 GMT)

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