What is driving volatility in European markets?

There is something strange going on in Europe according to some commentators - the market has rallied aggressively post the trade war-induced sell-off in the fourth quarter of 2018.

This is in spite of the recent German PMI hitting 44.1 (indicating contraction) and a spate of other data suggesting Europe has been affected by the wider slowdown in global growth, the hangover from US-Sino trade relations and Brexit.  However, it is also interesting to note the hard data is holding firm and surprising to the upside, as seen by the most recent industrial production data from Italy. Despite a technical recession in Italy, the market has outperformed other European markets over the last six months and year to date. This raises the question as to what is driving volatil...