European stocks rally on Fed relief, encouraging earnings

Global stock markets jumped after the Fed raised interest rates by a widely expected 50 basis points, but Chair Jerome Powell explicitly ruled out 75 basis point hike in a coming meeting. Battered technology stocks rose 3.2%, the most among European sectors, followed by automakers and industrial stocks.

European stocks rallied on Thursday, taking cues from Wall Street overnight after the Federal Reserve raised interest rates as expected but cooled aggressive tightening bets, with sentiment lifted further by a slew of upbeat earnings.

By 0709 GMT, the pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 1.8%, reversing much of the losses made so far this week. Global stock markets jumped after the Fed raised interest rates by a widely expected 50 basis points, but Chair Jerome Powell explicitly ruled out 75 basis point hike in a coming meeting.

Battered technology stocks rose 3.2%, the most among European sectors, followed by automakers and industrial stocks. Airbus jumped 7.1% after reporting a higher-than-expected first-quarter profit and as the planemaker firmed up record plans for a 50% hike in key narrowbody jet output.

Oil giant Shell jumped 2.9% after reporting a record first-quarter profit of $9.13 billion, boosted by higher oil and gas prices and a strong performance of its trading division. BMW gained 2.9% as it posted a rise in quarterly profit, lifted by a reevaluation of the German carmaker's stake in its Chinese joint venture and strong pricing.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)