European Markets Trading Upward Tuesday

European markets are in positive territory Tuesday.  

London’s FTSE and Frankfurt’s DAX indexes are both trading 1.1% higher at midday, while the CAC-40 in Paris is up 1.5%.    

The good news in Europe was a carryover from Asia’s mostly positive numbers, with Sydney’s S&P/ASX index finishing up 1.6%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index ending the day 1.1% higher and the TSEC 50 in Taiwan closing up 0.5%.   

A man wearing face mask walks past a bank electronic board showing the Hong Kong share index Tuesday, May 5, 2020.

The markets in Seoul, Shanghai and Tokyo remained closed Tuesday.  

In oil futures trading, the price of West Texas Intermediate Crude, the U.S. benchmark, was $22.41 per barrel, a gain of 9.9%, while Brent crude, the international benchmark, was $29.26 per barrel, up 7.5%.

All three major U.S. indexes are trading nearly one percent higher in equities futures trading.   

Tuesday’s gains in Europe and Asia are a spillover from Monday’s late surge on Wall Street, with the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and NASDAQ all finishing in positive territory.  Investors appear to be encouraged by the gradual easing of lockdowns and other social restrictions imposed to deal with the novel coronavirus pandemic, raising hopes that consumer demand will begin to rise and hasten some form of economic recovery.