Market Wrap: A mild breeze of optimism ahead of Jackson Hole

Friday’s European session is unfolding in an atmosphere of still cautious but broadly shared optimism. Nearly all major European indices are posting noticeable gains.

The growth leader is the CAC40, whose futures (FRA40) are up about 0.8%. The French index is being supported today by a continued wave of strength in luxury stocks. Major German, Spanish, Italian and Dutch indices are paring gains to around 0.5%. FTSE100 is performing relatively weakly in the afternoon, hovering near the previous close.

• Despite many risks receding and sentiment improving on the back of very strong Nvidia results, volatility remains limited as markets await the crucial speech by the new Fed chair in Jackson Hole this Saturday. Historically, these conferences have been able to trigger significant volatility, and the current Fed head is still seen by many investors as a so-called wild card.
• Sentiment is also improving around oil supply. Reuters reports that Venezuela is seriously considering leaving OPEC, and the US administration is said to be close to reaching a significant agreement regarding access to oil from Caracas.
• Some pressure on European assets may come from a further rise in European bond yields. German and French 10-year bonds are currently yielding about 3.27% and 4.13%, respectively.
• German gas storage may have trouble reaching the target of around 80% before the beginning of October. AGSI shows storage levels at about 51%, which seasonally represents the lowest reading in as many as 10 years.

Company News

• Alphabet (GOOGL.US): The US tech conglomerate announced it is withdrawing from certain mechanisms and practices related to spam reporting and publishing third-party content on its platform, in order to align its search engine with the new DMA rules. Google representatives clearly noted that the change will apply only to countries in the European Economic Area.
• Assicurazioni Generali (G.IT): The Italian bank is considering a takeover offer for Banca Generali from one of its competitors, Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS), for about USD 10 billion. The company’s shares are trimming gains to around 0.6%.
• Strabag (STR.DE): The Austrian construction company is up as much as 14% in Friday trading after very strong results for the first half of 2026. Net profit rose 25% to EUR 119 million, and the order backlog increased 27% to EUR 36 billion.
• EMS: The Swiss chemical holding company rises 2% after results. Sales growth in local currencies was 4.3%, reaching CHF 1.01 billion. Net profit increased 2.5% to CHF 259 million.
• Legrand (LR.FR): The French infrastructure operator gains 3% following a positive publication from an investment bank.

Forex

• The Japanese yen is giving back further gains after the recent intervention. The currency is down 0.1% to 0.2% versus major currencies. USDJPY is hovering just below 160.

Commodities

• Cocoa is rising on concerns about harvests in the Ivory Coast region. European contracts are up about 4.5%.
• Oil continues a slow but steady decline. Brent is trading around USD 88 ahead of Friday’s US open.
• Palladium is up nearly 4%, which can be interpreted as catching up to the gap between metal valuations ahead of the Jackson Hole conference.

Crypto

• Ahead of the session open, sentiment in the crypto market is clearly negative, though without sharp declines.
• Bitcoin is down about 0.6%, falling to around USD 79,500.
• Ethereum is performing better, defending the USD 2,500 level.