European Stocks Rebound From Trade Spat Concerns, Sky Surges

(Bloomberg) -- European equities recovered after dropping the most in two weeks Wednesday as investors weighed the U.S.-China trade talks and looked forward to corporate earnings.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index added 0.3 percent after losing 1.3 percent in the previous session. Media, health care and travel shares led the gains among sectors. Sky Plc gained 3 percent after Comcast Corp. increased its takeover bid to $34 billion, topping an offer from Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox Inc. European oil stocks slumped after Brent oil fell the most since February 2016 on Wednesday.

The biggest European stocks-focused exchange-traded fund Vanguard FTSE Europe ETF had an outflow of $73.5 million on Wednesday as investors exited amid fears that the Trump administration’s proposal of a new $200 billion list of additional tariffs on Chinese goods would hurt global growth. China’s Vice Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen called on his U.S. counterparts to resolve the conflict through a new round of bilateral negotiations.

“We must get used to the current form of negotiating through threats, complaints etc. first, then talks,” said Guillermo Hernandez Sampere, head of trading at MPPM EK in Eppstein, Germany. “Chinese and U.S. officials raised the prospect of resuming trade talks after President Trump’s announcement of a huge new round of potential tariffs. So let’s pray.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Ksenia Galouchko in Moscow at kgalouchko1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Blaise Robinson at brobinson58@bloomberg.net

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