European stocks bucked overnight losses on Wall Street and Asia to open higher on Tuesday, with a positive update from UK baker Greggs giving investors some appetite.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 index gained 0.27% after losses on Monday. All major regional bourses were higher.
Tech stocks were sold off overnight as investors got jittery over rising Treasury yields. Asian stocks fell on persistent worries about slowing growth in China.
Tech heavyweights Apple, Alphabet, Amazon and Microsoft all fell at least 2% while shares in Facebook slipped 4.9% after the social media platform and its WhatsApp and Instagram affiliates crashed for several hours due to technical issues.
“We’re at a point where the pessimism over the supply chain problems is probably nearing a peak, and expectations for growth have washed out,” said Neil Wilson at Markets.com.
“Likewise we may be at peak inflation/stagflation fears – the reopening is apace. Cyclicals/value are not doing enough to compensate for what amounts to a pretty sizeable pullback for the tech sector now, but there could be room for this area of the market to rally again as the economic situation starts to feel like it could pick up.”
In equity news, Greggs – renowned for its range of sausage rolls – gained after lifting full-year guidance after a strong sales performance in the third quarter, although it also warned over inflationary pressures.
The company said two-year like-for-like sales were up 3.5% in the third quarter despite staffing and supply chain disruption.
Infineon Technologies gained 1.9% after it confirmed its 2021 revenue and said it expects results to rise further next year as demand for power chips for cars, datacenters and renewable power generation soars.
Aerospace and motoring engineer Melrose fell after saying it expected the global shortage of semi-conductors to hit its automotive division following a sharp rise in customer cancellations in the first quarter.
