DE30 gains 2% and climbs above 13,000 pts

• Global stock markets surge

• DE30 breaks back above 13,000 pts

• Bayer (BAYN.DE) agreed to pay $1.6 billion to settle Essure cases

Stocks all around the world are surging amid positive developments on coronavirus vaccines and treatments. Strong gains can be spotted on the Old Continent today with the majority of blue-chips indices trade over 1% higher. German DAX jumps more than 2% and trades back above 13,000 pts mark. Economic calendar is bare today so traders should focus on incoming newsflow as well as current sentiment.

Source: xStation5

DE30 managed to fully recover from a drop that took place on August 20 and 21. The index bounced over 400 points off the Friday's low and made its way above the 13,000 pts mark. Rally has eased once the index approached the major resistance zone stretching between 78.6% retracement of late-July correction and 13,100 pts handle. In case the index fails to clear this zone, range trading may be set to continue with 12,800 pts area serving as the lower limit and key support to watch. The index has broken a sequence of lower highs, signaling that more gains may be looming. Keep in mind that the current rally is being fuelled mostly by vaccine news and fundamentals are not justifying such a quick upward movement. This poses a risk for equities. However, vaccine hype is likely to last until at least US elections as Trump tries to boost his re-election odds and markets may continue to look past developments in real economy.

DAX members at 10:10 am BST. Source: Bloomberg

Bayer (BAYN.DE) will have to pay $1.6 billion to resolve around 90% of US cases concerning Essure implant. Essure is a birth control implant that has caused significant side effects for patients. The company is working with lawyers of remaining plaintiffs to settle their cases as well.

The Supervisory board of Metro (B4B.DE) approved the decision of company's CEO, Olaf Koch, to step down by the end of the year. Metro said that it will begin searching for a successor.

Lufthansa (LHA.DE) announced that it will not resume flights on Frankfurt - Zagreb route until March 28, 2021. Zagreb is a capital of Croatia, which is a popular tourist destination in Europe.

Delivery Hero (DHER.DE) has replaced Wirecard (WDI.DE) in the DAX index today.