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Good morning. Risk assets extend gains on China’s stimulus. Traders see another ECB rate cut. And Peugeot is looking for new investments. Here’s what people are talking about.
Asian stocks and currencies climbed further as China’s central bank backed up Tuesday’s stimulus by lowering the interest rate charged on its one-year policy loans. Industrial metals including iron ore also extended gains a day after PBOC Governor Pan Gongsheng unveiled a broad package to revive the world’s second-largest economy. Gold also rose. Before the latest measures, deep-pocketed Middle Eastern investors had already been deploying a record amount of capital in China as other global firms retreated. Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, known as ADIA, has been involved in an $8.3 billion deal for Dalian Wanda Group’s shopping mall management unit, along with another Abu Dhabi fund, Mubadala Investment. Still, while the latest injection has bought China some time, economists believe this is just a down payment if President Xi Jinping is going to pull the roughly $18 trillion economy out of a protracted slump.