European stocks rose for the third day in a row on Thursday, as global markets continued to recover from the Omicron coronavirus crisis that shook business sentiment last month.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index rose 0.3 percent, while the banks of London, Frankfurt and Paris also move up. The gains followed a 0.8 percent rise on Thursday for the broad MSCI Asia-Pacific index and a 1 percent overnight jump for Wall Street’s S&P 500. The future of the S&P 500 did not change much at the start of Chicago’s Thursday trading.
Markets appeared in November to be nearing the end of 2021 as concerns mounted due to the global financial crisis.
Although several countries have tightened sanctions to curb the spread of the virus, “market participants seem to already think that the risk of Omicron’s rapid evolution is possible, at present,” said Bas van Geffen, a specialist at Rabobank.
That suggestion is supported by data from South Africa, Denmark and the UK showing that a small number of people infected with the Omicron virus may requires medical attention compared with Delta strain cases.
In Asia, China’s CSI 300 index rose 0.7 percent on Thursday even after the country ended locked 13m people in the central region of Xi’an in an effort to stem the tide of the virus before the 2022 Winter Olympics.
Global markets have also been helped by ultra-accommodative economy, which has been relatively easy despite the US Federal Reserve and other central banks this month taking a very strong stance on the rise in inflation that has spread around the world.
However, investors are expecting a tougher rise next week as smaller holiday holidays could exacerbate any instability caused by the virus crisis.
In the stock market, US Treasury’s 10-year yields have stabilized at 1.46 percent and the German equivalent was also slightly changed to 0.28 percent. The dollar has been steadily depreciating over half the world’s currencies.
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