EU stocks are set to conclude at eight-month peaks

On Friday, EU stock markets are braced for concluding the trading week at their highest levels for eight months, backed by the still-elusive likelihood of a trade agreement between America and China, and also by the confidence that a disruptive Brexit can still be dodged.

However, trading is thin enough and there’re several big moves, with many traders awaiting the American employment report.

After the first hour of trading in the EU, the benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 managed to tack on by 0.1% hitting 388.26. The FTSE 100 headed north by 0.2%, while Germany’s Dax stood still.

As for the Dax, on Thursday, it had overleapt 12,000 for the first time since October, backed by expectations that the two huge external risks to its export-sensitive economy would fade away soon. However, better-than-anticipated industrial output data for February failed to push it up.

The 0.8% leap in the monthly output was provoked by construction that provides some evidence for the argument that Germany’s domestic demand is firm enough to overcome the current rough patch for the export sector. By the way, the German economy has rarely been capable of soaring strongly in the past without a huge contribution from its manufacturers - their output went down by 0.2% in March.

German data really puzzles traders. Yesterday, factory orders showed that decreasing external demand could push the German industry into another downtime. Nevertheless, today’s industrial production numbers back the point of view that the German economy is actually in for a very solid first quarter.

Besides this, British shares were still in a holding pattern because UK Prime Minister Theresa May asked the European bloc for another short extension of the deadline for Great Britain to depart from the European Union to June 30.