admin5 705,72 points in late morning trade.
Frankfurt’s DAX 30 index jumped 1,11 percent to 6 757,00 points and in Paris the CAC 40 won 0,76 percent to 3 259,83.
Madrid advanced 0,97 percent, even as Spain had to offer investors sharply higher interest rates when raising US$3,66 billion in debt auctions with maturities of two, five and seven years.
In foreign exchange deals, the European single currency climbed to US$1,2309 from US$1,2280 late in New York on Wednesday, amid rising expectations of a fresh injection of cash by the Federal Reserve into the economy.
“Decent US earnings are doing their bit” to boost markets, said Chris Beauchamp, an analyst at IG Index trading group.
“Investors remain content to believe the Fed will act if push comes to shove.”
He added: “An auction of Spanish bonds this morning provided some excitement, as yields advanced and demand dropped, reminding us that although Europe is currently quiet, it has not gone away.”
Investors reacted well to news that Intel, the world’s leading semiconductor maker, had on Wednesday posted better-than-expected earnings for the April-June quarter.
Internet search giant Yahoo!, meanwhile, posted above forecast results and Bank of America said it had swung back into the black in the second quarter after posting a loss of almost US$9 billion a year ago.
Adding to the positive sentiment was the Fed’s Beige Book report, which offered reassurance amid worries about a recent run of disappointing data, saying “overall economic activity continued to expand at a modest to moderate pace in June and early July”.
Fed chairman Ben Bernanke, testifying for a second day to Congress, reiterated that the economy was slowing and the central bank would act if warranted to boost growth.
He told lawmakers that it was “certainly possible” the central bank could take new steps to support the economy if the jobs market failed to pick up.
His comments followed Tuesday’s testimony in which he warned second quarter growth in the world’s biggest economy could come in lower than the first three months of the year.
Dealers also took heart from June US housing starts data showing a rise of 6,9 percent from May.
Back in Europe, the share price of Lloyds Banking Group won 1,0 percent to 30 pence in yesterday’s trade after the state-rescued lender agreed to sell 632 branches at a loss to The Co-operative Group after an EU competition ruling.
LBG, which is 40-percent owned by the British government, was ordered by the European Union to offload a sizeable chunk of its branches in exchange for a huge state bailout following the 2008 financial crisis.
In Helsinki, Nokia surged 9,63 percent to 1,5 euros, even after the mobile phone manufacturer posted a deep second quarter net loss of 1,41 billion euros.
The Finnish company, which is struggling with an extensive restructuring, acknowledged that the three-month period,
which also saw sales plunge by 19 percent year-on-year, had been “a difficult quarter”. — AFP.
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