Leading European stock markets rallied on Friday as better than expected US economic data in the wake of the Federal Reserve interest rate hike whetted investors' appetites on both sides of the Atlantic.
The London FTSE 100 index gained 0.93 percent at 5,161.0 points, the Frankfurt DAX 30 added 0.67 percent to 4,617.07 points and the Paris CAC 40 advanced 0.95 percent to 4,269.62.
The DJ Euro STOXX 50 index of leading eurozone shares climbed 0.85 percent to 3,208.61 points.
On Wall Street, by London's close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 36.00 points at 10,311.00, while the NASDAQ composite index was 1.76 points firmer at 2,058.72, both off earlier highs as the rally started to lose momentum.
After the as-expected quarter-point US interest rate hike Thursday and hints from the Federal Reserve of further monetary policy increases to come, Friday's US data seemed to back up the Fed decision.
The US June ISM manufacturing index reading exceeded expectations at 53.8 percent, against a forecast of 51.5 percent.
There was also a bullish final reading of the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index for last month, which rose to 96.0 from 94.8 early last month and 86.9 in May. Economists were expecting the index to slip to 94.5.
In London, shares in Rolls-Royce topped the FTSE 100 leaders board, ahead 3.05 percent at ?2.96 after the engineer said in an update that it expected the civil engine fleet to rise by 40 percent over the next five years.
Dealers in Frankfurt said sentiment was underpinned by German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's successful move to lose a parliamentary confidence vote he had engineered in order to pave the way for early elections in September.
Schroeder had called on his Social Democrats and their coalition partner, the Greens, to abstain in a bid to have President Horst Koehler dissolve the parliament and call a general election.
Opinion polls show the conservative opposition CDU/CSU bloc would win the vote, a prospect which analysts have said would usher in reforms that would benefit the economy.
Elsewhere in Europe, the Swiss Market Index rose 0.43 percent to 6,279.78 points.
The Amsterdam AEX added 1.15 percent at 388.26 points, the Brussels BEL-20 climbed 0.40 percent to 3,125.38, the Madrid IBEX-35 was up 0.47 percent at 9,829.1 and the Milan SP/MIB advanced 0.58 percent to 32,532.0.
The EU and US are nearing an agreement to coordinate on producing and securing critical minerals, part of a push to break reliance on Chinese supplies. The potential deal would create incentives, such as minimum prices, that could advantage non-Chinese suppliers, according to a draft of an “action plan” seen by Bloomberg. The EU and US would also cooperate on standards, investments and joint projects, as well as coordinate on any supply disruptions by countries like China. The two sides are additionally seeking other “like-minded partners” to join a multicountry accord to help create these new critical mineral supply chains, which feed into
For weeks now, the global tech industry has been waiting for a major artificial intelligence (AI) launch from DeepSeek (深度求索), seen as a benchmark for China’s progress in the fast-moving field. More than a year has passed since the start-up put Chinese AI on the map in early last year with a low-cost chatbot that performed at a similar level to US rivals. However, despite reports and rumors about its imminent release, DeepSeek’s next-generation “V4” model is nowhere in sight. Speculation is also swirling over the geopolitical implications of which computer chips were chosen to train and power the new
Elon Musk’s lieutenants have reached out to chip industry suppliers, including Applied Materials Inc, Tokyo Electron Ltd and Lam Research Corp, for his envisioned Terafab, early steps in an audacious and likely arduous attempt to break into the production of cutting-edge chips. Staff working for the joint venture between Tesla Inc and Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) have sought price quotes and delivery times for an array of chipmaking gear, people familiar with the matter said. In past weeks, they’ve contacted makers of photomasks, substrates, etchers, depositors, cleaning devices, testers and other tools, according to the people, who asked not to
Japan approved ¥631.5 billion (US$3.97 billion) in additional subsidies to hasten Rapidus Corp’s entry into the high-stakes artificial intelligence (AI) chipmaking arena, ramping up support for a project widely regarded as a long shot. The capital is intended to bankroll Rapidus’ work for information technology firm Fujitsu Ltd, one of the initial customers that Tokyo hopes would get the signature endeavor off the ground. The new money raises the fees and investments that the government is injecting into the start-up to ¥2.6 trillion by the end of the current fiscal year to March next year, the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and