European Stocks Uniformly Higher After Late Wall Street Rally

European equity markets are unanimously higher, with core indices higher by around 2% apiece. As was the case yesterday, Germany's DAX is outperforming, with the UK FTSE-100 lagging very slightly.

Across Europe, consumer discretionary and materials firms are leading gains, suggesting a pro-cyclical bias so far Wednesday. Utilities and financials are the underperformers, although are still posting minor gains.

On an individual basis, UK homebuilders are trading particularly well, with Barratt Developments and Taylor Wimpey up 8% and 4% respectively following better-than-expected house price data this morning.

In US futures space, US indices are also uniformly positive, with the e-mini S&P higher by over 20 points at pixel time and at another all-time high to suggest further gains at the cash open today. This has kept VIX futures contained, with the Sep contract at the day's lows just ahead of the NY crossover.