By Geoffrey Smith
Investing.com — The european stock markets have mostly risen after the first few hours of trading this Friday, thanks to economic data reassuring from China that helped to offset the blow previously to the trust by the German car manufacturer Daimler .
The markets rallied after figures showing that chinese Exports have declined less than expected in June. The new loans were also slightly lower than expected, calming fears that the authorities do not rely on an excessive buildup of credit to mitigate the impact of the trade war with the United States.
The data on industrial production in the euro zone have proved to be slightly more favourable than expected.
Despite this – and despite the multiple signals from the federal Reserve regarding its intention to ease its monetary policy in the near future – the european markets are on track to finish the week down. It is a striking contrast with the United States, where the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 have reached new historic highs in the wake of the Congressional testimony of the Fed chairman Jerome Powell.
However, Germany {{Dax}} remained behind, steady on the day and down nearly 2% on the week after Daimler (DE:DAIGn), the manufacturer of the cars, Mercedes-Benz has announced a new warning on its profits, its second in less than a month. The company said its latest assessment of its legal liability in connection with the scandal of the emissions of diesel, as well as various issues affecting the sales of light trucks, meant that it would record a loss of approximately 1.6 billion euros in the second quarter, and that annual results would be much less than those of last year. Previously, the company anticipated that the benefits of 2019 would be roughly the same as those of last year.
The shares of Daimler fell by 3 % at the open, reaching a low of six years, but have recovered in the face of chinese data to display finally a decrease of only 1.0 %.
The new Volkswagen (DE:{VOWG_p}), which announced an investment of $ 2.6 billion in the company’s autonomous vehicle Argo Ford Motor, were more encouraging. This investment is the latest evidence that the largest automotive groups in the world combine to share the costs of development of autonomous cars, one of the two megatrends that have emerged in the industry.
