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European stocks on Tuesday extended recent gains as economies reopen, with German stocks booming after a three-day break.
The German DAX DAX, +2.92% rose 3% following the Ascension Day holiday with big gains for automaker Daimler DAI, +8.40% and airline Deutsche Lufthansa LHA, +6.85% .
Other markets rose as well, with the U.K. FTSE 100 UKX, +0.57% up 0.5% and French CAC 40 PX1, +1.39% climbing 1.4%.
The gains came as investors continued to place bets on the economic recovery. The Stoxx Europe 600 SXXP, +1.17% coming into Tuesday had closed higher for 5 of the last 6 sessions. Manufacturing purchasing managers indexes from the U.S. and Europe pointed to improvement in May from April even as they registered grim readings.
Bruno Le Maire, the French finance minister, said his country’s economy will drop 11% this year, which is worse than the government’s previous prediction of an 8% decline.
German commercial real estate company Aroundtown AT1, +7.91% surged 8% on a €500 million stock buyback program as it said the firm’s share price is at a significant discount to its net asset value. It also said it’s agreed to sell €400 million of non-core and/or mature properties at book value.
Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield URW, +6.74% climbed 7% as it reported that 65 of its 90 shopping centres have re-opened and at least 87% will be open by the middle of June. It said tenants have generally seen higher conversion rates and basket sizes than expected.
U.S. stock futures ES00, -0.08% were a touch lower as President Donald Trump threatened martial law in response to rioting that followed protests against police brutality.
