Market Update: Germany and France post stronger-than-expected growth figures – 14.08.2013

August 14, 2013
|In Global Round Ups
|By Jesmond Mizzi Financial Advisors

Source: Henderson Global Investors

US equities closed higher yesterday with the Dow Jones gaining 0.2% and the S&P 500 up 0.3%. Shares in Apple rose 4.8% as activist investor Carl Icahn revealed in a tweet that he had taken a large stake in the iPhone maker. Airline stocks plunged after news emerged that the US Department of Justice was blocking the merger of American Airlines and US Airways. US Airways fell 13.1% while AMR Corporation, which operates American Airlines, slumped 44.4%.

European equities have opened lower this morning with both the FTSE 100 and the FTSE Eurofirst 300 down 0.2%, led by mining stocks after weaker than expected results from Eurasian Natural Resources. In Europe, Germany and France posted stronger-than-expected growth figures over the second quarter. Germany recorded the strongest economic expansion in more than a year, growing 0.7% quarter-on-quarter, while France confirmed that it was no longer in recession as it grew 0.5%.