European Shares Rally As Trade Tensions Ease
(RTTNews) - European stocks climbed on Friday as most regional markets resumed trading after a holiday on Thursday for May Day.
Investors cheered signs of easing Sino-U.S. tensions after China said it has kept the door open for discussions with the United States.
At the same time, Beijing noted that the U.S. needs to show "sincerity" in negotiations and should be prepared to cancel its unilateral tariffs.
In economic releases, Eurozone unemployment and inflation data as well as the all-important U.S. jobs report are due later in the session.
The pan-European STOXX 600 was up 0.9 percent, the German DAX rallied 1.5 percent and France's CAC 40 surged 1.4 percent.
The U.K.'s FTSE 100 was up 0.8 percent after finishing marginally higher on Thursday.
In corporate news, education company Pearson fell 2.7 percent after underlying group sales rose 1 percent in the first quarter.
ING surged 4.7 percent. The bank announced a fresh buyback of €2 billion after reporting a strong set of results for Q1.
Similarly, energy giant Shell rallied 3.3 percent on share buyback news.
Denmark's Danske Bank jumped 3.6 percent after reporting forecast-beating first-quarter profits.
BASF SE declined about 2 percent. The chemical giant has warned that it needs more time to assess the impact of U.S. tariffs.
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