The FTSE 100 Futures is trading at 5,866.70 up with +4.05% percent or +228.20 point. The CAC 40 Futures is trading at 4,483.00 with +0.00% percent or +0.00 point. The DAX Futures is trading at 10,688.60 up with ++2.83% or +294.10 point. The EURO Stoxx 50 Futures trading at 2,881.00 up with +1.77% percent or +50.00 point.

TODAY’S FACTORS AND EVENTS

Stocks on the Continent finished higher at the end of the week and near their best levels of the session, as investors mulled progress in containing the Covid-19 pandemic and in some cases reassessed the likelihood of a gradual roll-back in social-distancing measures over coming weeks.

Overnight, Italy registered the largest increase in hospital recoveries from the virus since the start of the outbreak, but the number of daily new infections remained near 4,000.

It was a similar story in Spain, with the daily number of new infections falling from 6,180 on Wednesday to 5,756 on Thursday, although that was lower than the roughly 8,000 person a day increases evident just two weeks before.

YESTERDAY ACTIVITY

For the day the FTSE 100 closed at 5,842.66 up with +2.90% percent or +164.93 point. France’s CAC  40 closed at 4,506.85 up with +1.44%% percent or +64.10 point.Germany’s DAX closed at 10,564.74 up with  +2.24% percent or +231.85  point.

WORLD MARKETS

For the day the Dow is trading at 23,719.37 up with +1.22% percent or +285.80 point. The S&P 500 is trading at 2,789.82 up with +1.45%percent or +39.84  point. The Nasdaq Composite is trading at 8,153.58  up with +0.77% percent or +62.67 point.

In other parts of world, Japan’s Nikkei 225 is trading at 19,043.40 witha loss of –2.33% percent or –455.10 point. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is trading at 24,300.33 up with  +1.38%  percent or +329.96  point. China’s Shanghai  Composite is trading at 2,783.18 with a loss of –0.48% percent or –13.45  point. India’s BSE Sensex is trading at 30,835.34  with a loss of  –1.04% percent or –324.28   point at 12:15 PM.