The European Central Bank is scheduled to meet tomorrow, Thursday the 3rd of December, to discuss the highly anticipated easing measures in an attempt to boost inflation and support growth in the euro zone.
Stocks opened higher on the day as investors wait eagerly for news from the bank.
France’s CAC 40 is currently up 0.17% on the day, while the EURO STOXX 50 and Germany’s DAX 30 are down 0.1% and 0.3% respectively.
European equities have benefited greatly from the pending ECB announcement. The euro zone further benefitted on Tuesday following the news that the unemployment rate has dropped to 10.7% in October, down from 10.8% in September. This is the lowest level of unemployment since January 2012.
Spain led the decline in unemployment, with numbers dropping 27,100 in November. Analysts only expected a 10,300 drop in unemployment. In the month of October, unemployment actually increased in the country by 82,300 over the previous month.
Financial stocks opened higher, but eventually fell across the board on Tuesday. BNP Paribas (BNPP) fell 0.53%, Deutsche Bank (DBKGn) fell 1.35%, Commerzbank AG (CBKG) is currently down 1.73%, and Societe Generale (SOGN) is down 0.38% on the day.
Italian lenders are also down, including Unicredit (CRDI) and Intese Sanpaolo (ISP), which are down 0.77% and 0.46% respectively.
