European Shares Extend Gains On US Debt Deal Hopes

(RTTNews) - European stocks rose on Friday to extend gains from the previous session as investors shrugged off hawkish rhetoric from Fed speakers and remained hopeful that the U.S. will avert a catastrophic debt default.

In economic releases, Germany's producer prices posted their slowest annual growth in two years in April, Destatis reported earlier today.

Producer prices registered an annual growth of 4.1 percent in April after rising 6.7 percent in March. This was the weakest increase since April 2021, when prices gained 5.2 percent. Economists had forecast a 4.0 percent rise.

Separately, survey data from the market research group GfK showed that U.K. consumer confidence continued to strengthen in May.

The consumer sentiment index posted -27 in May compared to -30 in April - marking improvement for the fourth straight month.

The pan European STOXX 600 climbed 0.7 percent to 468.92 after gaining 0.4 percent on Thursday.

The German DAX and France's CAC 40 both were up around 0.7 percent, while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 added half a percent.

Concentric AB, a Swedish pump maker, jumped 4 percent after it has been awarded a SEK 201 million order to supply a fully integrated high voltage cooling solution to a North American zero-emission truck maker.

Titon Holding, a British supplier of ventilation systems and window-and-door products, slumped 9.5 percent. The company said it expects FY2023 results below expectations.

Drinks company C&C Group plunged 17 percent after announcing a €25m hit from problems implementing a system upgrade in its Matthew Clark and Bibendum (MCB) businesses in the U.K.

Industrial technology firm Smiths Group gained about 1 percent after raising its annual organic revenue growth outlook.