European markets close higher after UK fiscal U-turn; Holcim rises 2.6%

French cement company Lafarge SA will plead guilty and pay a fine of $777.8 million to resolve a U.S. federal criminal charge over its payments to terror organization ISIS to keep a cement plant operating in Syria.

The nearly $17 million payments were made between 2013 and 2014, and occurred even as ISIS was kidnapping and killing Westerners. Lafarge said in a statement it “accepted responsibility for the actions of the individual executives involved.”

Lafarge was purchased by Switzerland-based Holcim in 2015. Shares of Holcim Group were up 2.19% following the news.

Holcim said it learned of the allegations in 2016 and had “proactively and voluntarily conducted an extensive investigation.”

— Jenni Reid

The pound was lower against the dollar in mid-afternoon London trade, falling 0.4% on the day to $1.1353.

It gained Monday on the announcement that the U.K. would reverse the majority of tax cuts announced on Sept 23. following chaos in financial markets.

Meanwhile, volatility seemed poised to continue in the bond markets as the Bank of England said a Financial Times report that it would delay gilt sales was “inaccurate.”

Avanza Bank’s gains have slowed mid-morning, hovering around 9%. The price of shares in the Swedish bank had risen 16% earlier in the day.

Shares in Eurofins Scientific dropped 4.4% after the company reported a drop in third-quarter revenues. The French diagnostics firm saw a decline in its Covid-19 testing and reagents.

— Hannah Ward-Glenton

The FTSE 100 is up 0.6% to 6,920.24 points mid-morning following policy U-turns by the new British Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt on Monday.

The index hit a one-week high earlier in the day, peaking at 7,012.58 points at 8.30 a.m. London time.

The FTSE 100 is expected to open 55.7 points higher, France’s CAC index around 68.8 points higher, Germany’s DAX index up about 153 points, and Italy’s MIB 290.9 points higher.

— Hannah Ward-Glenton

The Bank of England is set to further delay quantitative tightening — the sale of billions of pounds of government bonds, known as gilts — until the market settles, the Financial Times reported Tuesday.

The move should encourage more stability in gilt markets, according to the report.

A spokesperson from the Bank of England said later Tuesday: “This morning’s FT report that the BoE has decided to delay MPC gilt sales (‘QT’) is inaccurate.”

— Hannah Ward-Glenton

Rob Luna, chief investment strategist at Surevest, says his firm has “started to witness individual stocks outperforming and showing signs of already bottoming.”

He predicts when the S&P 500‘s long-term move downward could turn, and names the stocks he thinks look attractive right now.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Weizhen Tan

Smaller companies have had a difficult year. In fact, according to Peter Oppenheimer, Goldman Sachs’ chief global equity strategist, they’ve had the worst year-to-date since the turn of the century.

However, he argued that the segment is starting to look “inexpensive,” and named several global stocks with stable growth and good profitability.

Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Zavier Ong

During Monday’s rally, all three major indices climbed and the Nasdaq posted its best day since July. It also closed more than 34% from its 52-week high, while the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average were 23% and 18% from their 52-week highs, respectively.

All sectors also closed more than 10% from their 52-week highs, led by communication services that was up more than 40% from the key level. Tech, consumer discretionary and real estate were all more than 32% from 52-week highs, while financials and materials were more than 22% from 52-week highs.

—Carmen Reinicke