{"id":698519,"date":"2026-01-15T21:50:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T21:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/698519\/"},"modified":"2026-01-15T21:50:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T21:50:11","slug":"europe-close-stocks-extend-rally-as-iran-us-tensions-ease","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/698519\/","title":{"rendered":"Europe close: Stocks extend rally as Iran-US tensions ease"},"content":{"rendered":"

The pan-European Stoxx 600<\/strong> rose 0.49% to 614.57.<\/p>\n

Germany\u2019s DAX<\/strong> added 0.26% to 25,352.39, France\u2019s CAC 40<\/strong> slipped 0.21% to 8,313.12, and the UK\u2019s FTSE 100<\/strong> climbed 0.54% to 10,238.94.<\/p>\n

Patrick Munnelly at TickMill said European markets were \u201cdriven by falling crude oil and precious metal prices,\u201d adding that investors were rotating away from \u201chigh-performing US tech and defence stocks to other sectors,\u201d which helped sustain momentum across the region.<\/p>\n

Energy stocks lagged after crude prices slumped, easing supply fears.<\/p>\n

Brent crude was last down 4.03% to $63.84 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate dropped 4.27% to $59.37 after Donald Trump toned down earlier threats of \u201cvery strong action\u201d against Iran, saying he had been told the killings of anti-regime protestors were subsiding and that he believed there was currently no plan for large-scale executions.<\/p>\n

Russ Mould at AJ Bell noted that \u201cBrent crude fell by … a substantially larger movement than one might expect on the commodities market for an average day,\u201d adding that markets interpreted Trump\u2019s remarks as reducing \u201cthe chance the US takes military action against Iran, and therefore a lower risk of disruption to oil supplies.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the pullback had a \u201cdirect impact on shares in oil producers,\u201d with BP<\/strong> and Shell<\/strong> among those under pressure.<\/p>\n

Separately, talks in Washington between officials from Greenland, Denmark and the US ended with what a Danish official described as \u201cfundamental disagreement\u201d over the territory\u2019s ownership.<\/p>\n

Eurozone industrial output rises as German economy returns to growth<\/strong><\/p>\n

Economic data in Europe was supportive.<\/p>\n

Eurostat reported that eurozone industrial production rose 0.7% in November, matching October\u2019s increase and beating expectations for a 0.5% rise, marking the strongest monthly gain since May 2025.<\/p>\n

Growth was led by capital goods output, up 2.8%, and intermediate goods, up 0.3%, offsetting declines in energy and consumer goods.<\/p>\n

The eurozone\u2019s trade surplus narrowed sharply to \u20ac9.9bn from \u20ac17.9bn in October, below the \u20ac15.2bn consensus, as imports rose faster than exports.<\/p>\n

The region\u2019s surplus with the UK stood at \u20ac15.4bn, down from \u20ac16.5bn a year earlier, while the surplus with the US fell to \u20ac10.7bn as exports dropped 20.3% year on year.<\/p>\n

Munnelly said the data fitted a broader global pattern in which \u201cinvestors are closely watching how this shift in investment plays out,\u201d particularly as markets reassess growth and trade dynamics.<\/p>\n

Germany meanwhile returned to growth in 2025 for the first time in two years, with provisional data from Destatis showing GDP up 0.2% year on year, or 0.3% after calendar adjustments.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter two years of recession, the German economy edged back into growth,\u201d said Destatis president Ruth Brand, while warning that exports continued to face \u201cstrong headwinds.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carsten Brzeski, global head of macro at ING, said the data suggested \u201cthis period of national gloom has come to an end,\u201d pointing to a clear turning point in industry and rising orders, while Holger Schmieding at Berenberg said higher government spending could add around 0.4 percentage points to growth in 2026 and help lift Germany to a cyclical peak of 1.3% growth in 2027.<\/p>\n

In the UK, GDP grew 0.3% in November after a 0.1% contraction in October, beating expectations for 0.1% growth, according to the Office for National Statistics.<\/p>\n

Services output rose 0.3% and production jumped 1.1%, though construction fell 1.3%.<\/p>\n

Motor vehicle production surged 25.5% as the industry recovered from a cyberattack earlier in the autumn.<\/p>\n

ONS director Liz McKeown said the economy \u201cgrew slightly in the latest three months.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mould said the better-than-expected figure was \u201cwelcome news for the new year,\u201d noting that while it was \u201cpartially helped by Jaguar Land Rover<\/strong> getting back to work after a cyber-attack, the increase in services activity shows there is more to the GDP progression than just restarting car production.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, he added that \u201cUK economic activity is still pedestrian overall,\u201d citing continued reluctance among businesses to invest and \u201ca fragile jobs market.\u201d<\/p>\n

Munnelly cautioned that the underlying picture remained uneven, pointing out that November\u2019s strength reflected \u201cconcentrated contributions within the services sector,\u201d meaning momentum across the economy was not broad-based.<\/p>\n

UK housing data showed tentative improvement in sentiment despite continued price pressure.<\/p>\n

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said the house price balance remained at -14 in December, while buyer enquiries and agreed sales stayed negative.<\/p>\n

However, three-month sales expectations jumped to 22 and the 12-month balance rose to 34, the strongest readings since late 2024.<\/p>\n

RICS economist Tarrant Parsons said there were \u201ctentative signs of a shift in sentiment,\u201d adding that \u201cthe key test for 2026 will be whether borrowing costs ease on a sustained basis.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mould said the housing backdrop remained challenging, warning that the sector was still struggling to shake off \u201cthe post- and pre-Budget blues.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the US, weekly data showed initial jobless claims fell by 9,000 to 198,000 in the week ended 10 January, while continuing claims declined to 1.88m, signalling ongoing resilience in the labour market.<\/p>\n

Munnelly said US data had \u201cnot significantly altered expectations for a potential Federal Reserve rate cut mid-year,\u201d keeping global investors focused on sector rotation rather than macro shocks.<\/p>\n

Chipmakers surge on back of TSMC results<\/strong><\/p>\n

In equities, European chipmakers surged after TSMC<\/strong> reported a 35% jump in fourth-quarter net profit, lifting ASM International<\/strong>, BE Semiconductor Industries <\/strong>and ASML<\/strong> Holding<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Mould said that while a record quarter was \u201can open secret,\u201d the details were \u201cstill striking,\u201d particularly the scale of capital expenditure, which suggested TSMC was \u201cfully confident the AI boom has legs,\u201d underlined by guidance for 30% growth in 2026.<\/p>\n

He added that TSMC\u2019s dominance meant it was \u201cdifficult for customers to diversify their supply chain even if they wanted to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, VAT Group<\/strong> rallied after fourth-quarter sales beat forecasts.<\/p>\n

UniCredit<\/strong> gained after dismissing reports it planned to buy a stake in Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena<\/strong> as \u201cspeculative in nature and unjustified.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the downside, Richemont<\/strong> traded lower after reporting third-quarter sales growth of 4% to \u20ac6.4bn, despite stronger constant-currency growth of 11% and solid performance in the UK and Italy, even as Munnelly noted the group had \u201cexceeded sales forecasts, fuelled by strong jewellery demand and a recovery in China.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The pan-European Stoxx 600 rose 0.49% to 614.57. Germany\u2019s DAX added 0.26% to 25,352.39, France\u2019s CAC 40 slipped…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":638602,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5174],"tags":[196742,196745,196743,196744,22470,50510,2000,299,5187,88283,192115,28263,7063,14781],"class_list":{"0":"post-698519","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eu","8":"tag-categoryall","9":"tag-categorymarket-pulse","10":"tag-categorymarket-report","11":"tag-categorymarket-report-europe-close","12":"tag-close","13":"tag-ease","14":"tag-eu","15":"tag-europe","16":"tag-european","17":"tag-extend","18":"tag-iran-us","19":"tag-rally","20":"tag-stocks","21":"tag-tensions"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115901328553150099","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=698519"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698519\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/638602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=698519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=698519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=698519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}