European shares rose May 20, 2022, ending the week on a positive note, as investors encouraged a cut in the main Chinese lending index and received UK retail sales data.
Earlier, the People's Bank of China announced its decision to keep loan rates unchanged for a year at 3.70%, the most significant cut ever. On the flip side, UK retail sales rose 1.4% in April, contrary to expectations for a further 0.2% decline due to increased spending on alcohol and tobacco in supermarkets and higher apparel sales.
German producer prices rise 33.5% in April
In other data, the German National Statistics Office announced on Friday that producer prices in Germany increased by 33.5% in April compared to the same month a year ago. On a monthly basis, the producer price index rose 2.8% in April 2022.
Energy prices are up 87.3% year over year and are up 2.5% month over month. The surge in energy prices led to sharp increases in the cost of natural gas (distribution), by 154.8% in the same month. Electricity prices increased by 87.7%. Intermediate commodity prices are up 26% year over year, driven by a 43.3% jump in metal prices.
European Stocks May 20 2022
The DAX was up 1.65% or 227 points at 09:51 AM GMT. The CAC 40 is up 1.06%, and the FTSE 100 is up 1.68%. The euro was down 0.08% against the dollar to trade at $1.05774. By comparison, the pound rose 0.10% to $1.24818 at 09:50 AM GMT.