AMSTERDAM/LONDON: European stocks moved towards record highs on Thursday, following a set of strong company earnings and as the European Central Bank left policy unchanged as expected.
Heavyweight Nestle rose almost 3% after reporting its strongest quarterly sales growth in 10 years, while software group SAP and French spirits group Pernod Ricard were among some of the other stocks to surge after results.
Credit Suisse, meanwhile, fell 2.1% after a hit from the collapse of US investment fund Archegos wiped out what would have been a stellar trading period, leaving it with a slightly smaller-than-flagged quarterly pre-tax loss of 757 million Swiss francs.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.7%, extending gains for a second day, after fears of a new wave of COVID-19 cases pushed European markets to their worst day in 2021 on Tuesday.
Shares of renewable energy companies such as Vestas and Siemens Gamesa surged, with Vestas jumping 10% for its best day in a month, after the Biden administration on Thursday pledged at a US climate summit to slash US greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030.
Birkin bag maker Hermes was up 2.1% as strong growth in Asia powered a 44% surge in quarterly sales.
Among other decliners, Britain’s biggest defence contractor BAE Systems lost 5% as it faced mounting criticism for handing its chief executive an extra 2 million pounds ($2.8 million) to convince him to stay.
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