VW stocks were 4.32% down at close yesterday at €107.30, off from the intraday high of €117 in the first few minutes after the market opened.

AFP/London

Europe’s main stock markets rebounded strongly yesterday as traders welcomed some clarity from Federal Reserve chief Janet Yellen on the outlook for US interest rates, analysts said.
However, a rally by Volkswagen shares on expectations the company would imminently name a new chief executive to steer it out of the wreckage of a pollution test rigging scandal ran out of fuel as the company’s problems mounted.
London’s benchmark FTSE 100 index closed 2.47% higher at 6,109.01 points.
In the eurozone, Frankfurt’s DAX 30 ended the day 2.77% ahead at 9,688.53 points and Paris’s CAC 40 jumped 3.07% to 4,480.66 points compared to Thursday’s close.
Milan advanced 3.68% and Madrid 2.45%.
The euro dropped to $1.1193 from $1.1230 late on Thursday in New York, with the US currency winning strong support from the prospect of a Fed rate rise before the end of the year.
European stock markets had closed lower Thursday following another volatile day of trading, as a spreading Volkswagen scandal offset positive German data.
But equities fought back yesterday, mirroring strong gains in Tokyo, after Yellen hinted at a US rate hike by the end of 2015.
Wall Street stocks climbed mostly higher on Yellen’s comments and the Commerce Department’s report that the US economy grew at a peppy 3.9% rate in the second quarter, up from the 3.7% previously estimated.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.16% to 16,390.03 points in mid-day trading.
The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.41% to 4,753.62 points, though the broad-based S&P 500 slipped 0.34% to 1,932.24 after an initial rise.
“An improvement on an already strong second quarter GDP figure, with the final number creeping up to 3.9% from the 3.7% initial reading, appeared to take the edge off the Dow Jones at the open... European indices by and large underwent the same motions as the Dow did this afternoon,” said Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell.
Volkswagen shares continued to see-saw yesterday, jumping more than 4% at the opening of trading ahead of the widely anticipated announcement of Porsche chief Matthias Mueller its new chief executive.
But the company’s shares slumped by more 4% in the afternoon after Germany’s transportation minister said 2.8mn VW cars in the country had been fitted with software to defeat pollution tests.
At the close of trade, VW stocks were 4.32% down on the day at €107.30, off from the intraday high of €117 in the first few minutes after the market opened.