FX.co ★ Key stock indices in Europe closed higher

On Wednesday, the leading European indicators reported an increase against the backdrop of positive corporate news after a significant fall the day before.

European markets have adopted the positive dynamics of the American sites, which indicates a decrease in the anxiety of traders in both regions about record inflation and the prospects for tightening monetary policy by central banks.

As a result, the British FTSE 100 gained 0.37% to 7629.22, the French CAC 40 jumped 1.38% to 6624.91 and the German DAX rose 1.47% to 14362.03.

Throughout the day, investors followed the release of financial statements of large corporations in the eurozone, as well as the forecasts that companies give for 2022.

In the first quarter of this year, the French manufacturer of dairy and other food products Danone increased its sales by 10.2% year-on-year to 6.2 billion euros. As a result, the securities of the food company soared by 5.8%.

An additional downward factor for the automotive sector on Wednesday was internal statistics for the region. So, on the eve it became known that car sales in the EU in the past month fell by 20.5% compared to March 2021 - to 844,200. At the same time, the rate of decline in Spain reached 30.2%, in Italy - 29.7% , in France - 19.5%, and in Germany - 17.5%.

On such frightening news, the value of securities of the German automobile company Volkswagen fell by 0.7%, the Dutch Stellantis - by 0.5%, and the French Renault rose by 1.6%.

In 2022, European stocks have already felt the negative consequences of the decisive steps of the world's leading central banks and the military conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Experts are confident that in the near future the growth in the value of securities on European stock exchanges will be extremely limited against the backdrop of permanently accelerating inflation.

This week, European stock market participants are looking forward to the upcoming televised debate between current French President Emmanuel Macron and Marine le Pen. The second round of presidential elections is scheduled for the coming weekend.