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Five Things - Europe
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Good morning. Stimulus programs abound, oil is going nowhere and there are more warnings on the stocks rally. Here's what's moving markets.

12 Million

Global coronavirus cases topped 12 million, with flare-ups even in some countries that have been relatively successful in containing infections. Finland reopened its borders to most European countries, notably exempting Sweden, whose lockdown-averse strategy has left it the worst-hit nation in Northern Europe. Portugal will keep restrictions in place in several areas around Lisbon in an effort to contain a flare-up in the capital's outskirts. To see why Europe's leaders may be loath to order  citizens back indoors, take a look at Serbia's violent protests against a second curfew. Meanwhile, Bloomberg's Joe Nocera writes that the pandemic is a great incubator for financial fraud.

Sunak's Stimulus

The U.K. government laid out its stimulus response to Covid-19 with a focus on tackling unemployment and providing boosts to the country's housebuilding and leisure sectors. Those two industries welcomed the support, though the aerospace industry was feeling left out and the green spending promised fell well short of the country's European neighbors. The success of the plans will be dependent on the U.K. government avoiding a second wave of infections that could derail its reopening. In the European Union, Chancellor Angela Merkel urged the bloc to come to an agreement for its recovery plan. Meanwhile, Italy's finance minister said the country will tap the euro-area bailout fund if it needs to, underlining the challenges the EU will face in agreeing on its rescue package.

Lackluster Oil

The recovery in crude oil prices from the initial turmoil wreaked by the pandemic has been significant, but how much further it can go is another question. U.S. crude inventories are holding close to record highs and while gasoline demand has recovered to pre-virus levels, it remains far off the normal levels for the summer driving season. Trading volumes for Brent have also slumped, another huge shift from the frantic activity seen earlier in the year, with market participants unconvinced the commodity is going anywhere while the virus looms in the background.

Fragility

Megacap tech stocks keep rising and warnings from analysts about an overheating stock market continue to flow. Deutsche Bank said it was surprised by the "speed and magnitude" of the recovery for Apple Inc. shares and there seems to be similar skepticism that there is any upside left for other big tech names too. The danger is that investors are rushing into a big cross-asset rally which is ripe for violent reversal of fortunes ahead of a very important earnings season where the impact of the virus on all industries should become clearer. Still, not everyone thinks it'll be time to sell, with JPMorgan strategist Marko Kolanovic saying stocks still look attractive compared to bonds.

Coming Up…

European stock futures are pointing to a positive open following gains in Asia, where investors continued to put faith in stimulus measures propping up the economy. Europe's largest technology company, SAP SE, reported better-than-expected preliminary results for second-quarter revenue. Coming up, we'll get a glimpse into the pain at engine maker Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc amid a global airline industry flame-out, as well as updates from chocolatier Barry Callebaut AG and diagnostics firm BioMerieux. German export data for May is forecast to bounce back from April's levels, and U.S. weekly initial jobless claims are expected to remain above the one-million mark.

What We've Been Reading

This is what's caught our eye over the past 24 hours. 

  • Tech industry titans surge in the global rich list.
  • Existential crisis for the hottest hedge fund strategy.
  • What if you're not ready to return to the office?
  • The problematic future of gas pipelines.
  • Lisbon's plan to reclaim housing from Airbnb.
  • Womenomics pioneer urges nurturing female talent.
  • Warner Bros. names the first black Batwoman.

And finally, here's what Cormac Mullen is interested in this morning

Another day, another fresh record for U.S. tech shares. The Nasdaq Composite closed at an all-time high Wednesday but a quick look at some breadth indicators should bring a note of caution to those looking to read too much into the tech-heavy rally. The Bloomberg Cumulative-Advance Decline Index for the Nasdaq remains well off its peak in January, and the percentage of index members trading above their 50-day averages has been falling steadily for a month. This level of divergence signals a lack of broad participation in the rally, and raises question marks over its sustainability. Gains this month — the Nasdaq is up over 4% in July — have been driven mostly by strength in megacaps Amazon.com Inc., Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp. Investors should be careful extrapolating the Nasdaq's success to other indexes and markets.

Cormac Mullen is a cross-asset reporter and editor for Bloomberg News in Tokyo.

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