各国选情及并购传闻推动欧洲股市创下多年来的新高

    随着投资者开始关注首周末以来各国选举传来的积极消息，欧洲股市创下多年来的高点，而且日本股市周二也创下七周以来的新高。

    欧洲斯托克600指数（Stoxx Europe 600）创下六年来的新高点344.74点后回落，而日经指数（Nikkei）也连续四天走高，当日收于14,636.52点，上涨0.2%。

    尽管辉瑞（Pfizer）收购英国和瑞典医药巨头阿斯利康（AstraZeneca PLC）的尝试以失败告终。但有传言称，假日酒店（Holiday Inn）和皇冠假日（Crowne Plaza）等连锁酒店运营商InterContinental Hotels Group PLC接到了收购邀约，消息助涨了新一轮与收购相关的积极人气。法国酒店运营商雅高（Accor SA）也表示，将回购一些其先前售出的酒店。

    在欧洲，彼得•波罗申科在上周日乌克兰总统大选中获得压倒性的胜利，增加了危机迅速终结的希望——尽管据媒体报道称，过去几天曾在顿涅茨克机场周边爆发激战，40多人丧生。

    意大利总理马泰奥•伦奇的民主党在民意调查中显著胜出，获得34.5%的投票；而前喜剧演员贝佩•格里洛的五星运动（Five Stars movement）仅获得25.5%, 远远低于预期。截至美国东部时间周二上午9点，意大利MIB指数在周一大涨3.6%的基础上继续上涨了0.1%。

    德国（更为重要的是意大利）政府党派进入欧洲议会的良好迹象也支撑了市场。意大利的结果之所以很重要是因为，意大利占欧元区经济的17%，但政府债务高企、创纪录的失业率和旷日持久的政治动荡使它仍旧是欧元区最明显的问题国家之一。最近的数据显示，继续去年末走出经济衰退后，今年一季度意大利的经济再度收缩。

    与此同时，在德国，尽管反对欧元的新选项党（Alternative fuer Deutschland party）获得了议会7%的席位，但德国总理安格拉•默克尔领导的基督教民主联盟依然是明显的赢家，获得了35.3%的投票。默克尔一直是向身处困境欧元区国家有条件提供救助政策背后的主要推动力量，而这项政策在过去4年一直勉强维持着拥有18个成员国的欧元区。

    尽管法国基准指数从上周末开始就一直落后于欧洲其他市场的表现，周二早晨下跌0.1%，但市场对于英国和法国反欧盟政党支持率大增的状况给予的关注较少。

    贝伦堡银行（Berenberg Bank）驻伦敦首席经济学家霍格尔•施米丁说：“法国在革新方面在欧洲处于落后。法国的主流党派当然没有因为先前拒绝忍辱负重地尝试不受欢迎的改革而获得回报。”（财富中文网）

    European stocks hit a new multi-year high, and Japanese stocks hit a seven-week high Tuesday as investors focused on the positives from elections across Europe over the weekend.

    The Stoxx Europe 600 index hit a new six-year high of 344.74, before falling back later, while the Nikkei closed at 14,636.52, up 0.2% on the day and its fourth successive gain.

    Talk of a bid for InterContinental Hotels Group PLC (IHG), the operator of such chains as Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza, has encouraged a fresh wave of M&A related optimism, despite the collapse of Pfizer's (PFE) bid for U.K.-Swedish pharma giant AstraZeneca PLC (AZN). French hotel operator Accor SA (ACRFF) also said it would buy back some hotels that it had sold previously.

    In Europe, the clear victory for Petro Poroshenko in Ukraine's presidential elections on Sunday has also boosted hopes of a speedy end to the crisis there -- despite intense fighting over the last couple of days around Donetsk airport in which over 40 people have been killed, according to media reports.

    The Social Democrats of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi emerged as clear winners of the poll in Italy with a thumping 34.5% of the vote, while the Five Stars protest movement of ex-comedian Beppe Grillo managed only 25.5%, well short of expectations. The Italian MIB index was up 0.1% by 9:00 AM EDT, after rising 3.6% on Monday.

    Markets are also still enjoying some support from the strong showing of government parties in Germany and, crucially, Italy in elections to the European parliament. The Italian result is important because Italy, which accounts for 17% of the eurozone's economy, remains one of its most obvious weak spots, with high government debt, record unemployment, and chronic political instability. Recent data showed that the economy contracted again in the first quarter after emerging from recession at the end of last year.

    In Germany, meanwhile, although the anti-euro Alternative fuer Deutschland party won seats in the parliament with 7% of the vote, it was the Christian Democrats of Chancellor Angela Merkel who emerged as the clear winner with 35.3%. Merkel has been the driving force behind the policy of conditional aid for stressed eurozone countries that has just about kept the 18-country currency zone together over the last four years.

    Markets have given less attention to the surge in support for anti-EU parties in the U.K. and France, although the French benchmark index has limped behind the rest of the continent since the weekend, losing 0.1% Tuesday morning in Europe.

    "France is the reform laggard in Europe. Its mainstream parties were certainly not rewarded for their past refusal to bite the bullet of unpopular reforms," said Holger Schmieding, chief economist with Berenberg Bank in London.