DE30: European stocks trade mixed ahead of ECB decision

Summary:

• EU summit starting today, Brexit among topics on the agenda

• DAX (DE30 on xStation5) pulls back from the 11000 pts handle

• German authorities are said to look for ways to support Commerzbank-Deutsche merger

Stocks in Asia continued to move higher during today’s trading and the situation is set to continue during the European session. Almost every blue chips index from the Old Continent opened higher on Thursday with the biggest gains being seen on Spanish and Italian bourses. Russian equities were the only ones to move lower in the first minutes of the trading session. Banks and telecoms outperform while refiners and financial services companies lag the most.

DE30 continues its upward march. The benchmark opened in the vicinity of 11000 pts handle today but moved lower as the time passed by. Nevertheless, everything is a subject to change as ECB decision and press conference may spur increased volatility on the European markets. In case this pullback is to deepen what should watch support zone ranging 10760-10820 pts. Source: xStation5

Germany will mine lithium jointly with Bolivia. State-owned companies from the two countries, Yacimientos de Litio Bolivianos and ACI Systems Alemania GmbH, signed a deal to explore salt flats in Salar de Uyuni region. The aforementioned area is said to have the biggest lithium deposits in the World. For Germany the deal is an opportunity to take advantage of incoming boom on the electric vehicles market (lithium is major components of battery cells) while for Bolivia it is a chance to promote the country and set up lucrative lithium mining industry. Operations in the region are said to begin in 2021.

Investors should also be aware of the fact that the European Summit is starting today. EU leaders will discuss long-term budget, single market, external relations and migration. Apart from that, today’s discussions will also concern Brexit while tomorrow politicians will talk about euro area.

Major European stock indices after the first hour of trade:

• DAX (DE30): -0.04%

• FTSE 100 (UK100): +0.02%

• CAC40 (FRA40): -0.06%

• IBEX (SPA35): +0.55%

• FTSE MIB (ITA40): +0.76%

Deutsche Bank (DBK.DE) surges on reports concerning merger with Commerzbank (CBK.DE). Source: Bloomberg

Company News

Merger of Commerzbank (CBK.DE) and Deutsche Bank (DBK.DE) has been on the wires for some time now. The situation may be gathering pace as suggested by the Bloomberg report yesterday. Namely, the agency claims that German authorities are trying to help two biggest German lenders to merge and are exploring possibilities on how to do it. Among others lawmakers are said to discuss potential change of existing laws to help the merger happen. High-level discussions are taking place including the German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz and Deutsche Bank CEO Christian Sewing. However, one should keep in mind that Sewing noted earlier that no major events like mergers or acquisitions will take place in Deutsche Bank until at least the end of 2019.