European Markets Rise; Miners, Oil Stocks Upbeat

(RTTNews) - The European markets were trading higher on Wednesday afternoon, amid a slight recovery in oil prices and hopes of stimulus measures from China, tracking the positive cues from Wall Street overnight.

On a light day for economic news, French consumer spending declined for a second consecutive month in November and at the biggest pace since the start of 2014, mainly due to lower energy consumption and weaker spending on clothing, the INSEE said.

Household spending dropped 1.1 percent from October, when it fell 0.2 percent. Economists had expected a modest 0.1 percent gain.

The U.K. economy grew slightly less than initially estimated in the third quarter, the Office for National Statistics said. Gross domestic product climbed 0.4 percent from the second quarter, which was revised down from 0.5 percent estimated previously.

The Energy Information Administration is due to release its weekly petroleum status report for the week ended December 18th at 10:30 am ET.

The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks climbed 1.5 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, jumped 1.8 percent.

The German DAX, the French CAC 40, the FTSE 100 index of the U.K. and Switzerland's SMI added between 1.2 percent and 1.5 percent.

In Frankfurt, RWE jumped 6.1 percent and E.ON jumped 4.6 percent. The two utilities have signed an agreement to jointly sell their respective 18.4 percent and 10 percent shareholding in the Luxembourg utility Enovos International S.A.

ThyssenKrupp jumped 4.4 percent. Peer Salzgitter advanced 3.4 percent.

Daimler and BMW gained 1.8 percent each, while Volkswagen added 1.1 percent.

In Paris, Technip gained 4.2 percent and Total added 2.1 percent.

Credit Agricole, Societe Generale and BNP Paribas added notably.

Meanwhile, ArcelorMittal surged around 10 percent in Amsterdam.

In London, Glencore surged 7 percent and Anglo American added 6.3 percent. Antofagasta and Fresnillo were gaining 4.3 percent and 3.7 percent, respectively.

BG Group jumped 4.7 percent and Royal Dutch Shell added 3.9 percent. BP gained nearly 4 percent.

AstraZeneca advanced 1.5 percent. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved AstraZeneca's Zurampic or lesinurad to treat high levels of uric acid in the blood or hyperuricemia associated with gout, when used in combination with a xanthine oxidase inhibitor.

Most Asian stocks rose as the slump in oil prices paused and a positive reading on U.S. growth and consumer spending buoyed optimism about the recovery in the world's largest economy. The Japanese market was closed in observance of the Emperor's Birthday.

In the U.S., futures point to a higher open on Wall Street. In the previous session, the Dow rose 1 percent, the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.7 percent and the S&P 500 added 0.9 percent.

Crude for February delivery added $0.51 to $36.65 per barrel, while February gold slipped $1.3 to $1072.8 a troy ounce.