LONDON – Europe’s major markets were on the upswing in mid-morning trading on Tuesday, with the DAX in Frankfurt and Milan’s FTSE MIB leading the way.
The German and Italian markets were both up 1.8 percent, to 10,302.26 and to 17,939.23 respectively, followed by the CAC 40 in Paris, 1.4 percent to 4,484.54 and London’s FTSE 100, 0.7 percent to 6,317.13.
The euro traded at $1.14, while the pound fetched $1.44, and the Swiss franc equaled $1.03 at 11:55 a.m. CET.
Retail and luxury stocks were also on the uptick, following comments earlier this week by Janet Yellen, chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, indicating that interest rates would most likely remain fixed until later this summer at the earliest.
Among the morning’s biggest risers were British high street retailer Next, 2.6 percent to 55 pounds; MySale Group, 4.4 percent to 0.70 pounds; Moncler, 2.3 percent to 15.17 euros; Tod’s, 2.1 percent to 55.45 euros; Geox, 2.2 percent to 3.11 euros; and LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, 2.3 percent to 148.65 euros.
Among the few stocks that fell were Italia Independent Group, 2.3 percent to 17.60 euros; Mulberry Group, 2.4 percent to 10.10 pounds; and Koovs.com, 6.5 percent to 0.47 pounds.