European stock markets climbed on Wednesday, largely driven by a massive rally in luxury brands after French giant LVMH delivered surprisingly positive sales results, calming fears about the health of major companies amidst global trade and growth concerns.
Luxury group LVMH saw its shares soar over 12%, heading for their best daily performance in almost two years after reporting better-than-expected sales in the third quarter, fueled by stronger demand in China.
This good news immediately boosted other luxury stocks, with companies like Hermes and Richemont seeing gains between 2.7% and 7.2%. This surge caused the French stock index to jump 2.5%, while the broader STOXX 600 index for all of Europe rose 0.8%.
Adding to the positive mood, chip-equipment supplier ASML rose 3.5% after its forecasts for quarterly orders and sales beat market expectations.
However, not all stocks did well: German copper producer Aurubis fell 7.1% because its majority owner, Salzgitter, launched a large bond that can be exchanged for Aurubis shares, which often puts downward pressure on a stock’s price.
On the FX front, The US dollar remained mostly unchanged early on Wednesday, stabilizing after a slight drop in the previous session.
The dollar was steady against the Japanese yen and the Swiss franc, holding its value after losing ground to both currencies on Tuesday.
The euro also held firm at 1.1606 following its own small gain yesterday.
Among commodity-linked currencies, the Australian dollar ticked up slightly by 0.1%, attempting to recover after hitting its lowest point since late August on Tuesday.
In contrast, the New Zealand dollar continued its slight decline, easing another 0.1% after falling to a six-month low yesterday.
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