LONDON (ShareCast) - (ShareCast News) - European stocks have started the day slightly higher with investors brushing off sharp falls in the likes of Richemont amid strong economic data out of France and as they brace for the release of a slate of US economic data later in the session.
As of 0838 BST the Stoxx 600 is up by 0.20% to 395.11 as the Dax gains 0.19% to 12,735.22 and the Cac-40 another 0.17% to 5,392.48.

Euro/dollar is down by 0.04% to 1.0859 as front month Brent crude oil futures edge higher by 0.138% to $50.82 a barrel on the ICE.

Commenting on the situation in markets at the end of the week, Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK said: "Stocks had a disappointing day yesterday with a weaker bias across the board, despite further gains in the oil price, as a lack of positive drivers weighed on sentiment.

"It would be ironic in the extreme now that the worst of the political fog appears to have cleared, that we could well see stock markets post their first negative week since early April."

Helping stocks along and acting as a backdrop, Asian bourses were mostly higher in late trading with some traders referencing talk of receding trade tensions between China and the US as the main catalyst.

Also worth noting, overnight Morgan Stanley trimmed the odds it assigns to a US recession scenario this year form 30% to 25%, although it should be noted that the latter continues to be high by historical standards. In July 2016 the investment bank pegged the chances of a downturn this year at 40%.

Back in all things Europe, French nominal wage gains accelerated to a 0.6% quarter-on-quarter clip at the start of 2017, easily outstripping forecasts for a rise of 0.2%.

In parallel, Germany's Finance ministry announced that real German gross domestic product grew by 0.6% quarter-on-quarter over the first three months of 2017, as expected.

That came alongside figures showing a rise of 2.0% in harmonised consumer prices in the euro area's largest economy.

Shares in Richemont are pacing declines on the Stoxx 600 after the Swiss luxury goods maker reported a 4% drop in annual sales.

French media group Vivendi was moving higher on that same pan-European gauge after offering to take Group Bollore's near 60% stake in Havas off its hands.

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