European Stocks Lower; Total Helps Energy Sector

European stock markets edged lower Tuesday, consolidating after recent gains, although the energy sector outperformed helped by positive news from oil giant Total .

At 4:25 AM ET (0925 GMT), the DAX in Germany traded 0.5% lower, the U.K.’s FTSE 100 index dropped 0.1% and the CAC 40 in France fell 0.1%.

Total (PA:TOTF) stock rose 2% after the French oil major surprised the market by reporting better than expected fourth quarter earnings, bucking the trend of weakness in the final quarter of 2020 on the back of renewed lockdowns to combat the surge in coronavirus cases.

The company said its earnings recovered in the fourth quarter as oil prices stabilized, although a hit from writedowns on assets due to the pandemic plunged it to a $7.2 billion net loss for 2020 as a whole.

Global stock markets have climbed strongly in the last few months, helped by optimism of future economic growth as governments and central banks continue massive spending and easy money policies while vaccination programs point to the end of the coronavirus pandemic.

The major European indices have generally seen less impressive gains, although the German DAX did reach an all-time high on Monday, with the continent hit hard by the second surge of the virus and European Union’s vaccination drive falling far behind its U.S. and U.K. equivalents.

In other corporate news, Demant (CSE:DEMANT) stock soared 13% after the Danish hearing aid producer easily beat expectations for the second half of 2020.

Ocado (LON:OCDO) stock dropped 1.9% despite the company reporting its online sales jumped 35% in 2020. That said, the company as a whole, including its tech business, reported a small loss over the year.

On the economic data front, but German exports rose in December as solid trade with China and the United States helped Europe’s largest economy.

Oil prices continued to push higher Tuesday, reaching their highest levels in 13 months on growing optimism of the recovery of fuel demand coupled with supply curbs by the top crude producers, primarily Saudi Arabia.

Investors now await U.S. crude oil supply data from the American Petroleum Institute, due later in the day.

U.S. crude futures traded 0.3% higher at $58.14 a barrel, while the international benchmark Brent contract rose 0.2% to $60.80. Both contracts are at their highest since January 2020, and have posted gains for the seventh consecutive session on Tuesday, the longest winning streak since January 2019.

Elsewhere, gold futures rose 0.7% to $1,846.75/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.4% higher at 1.2101.