Investing.com - European stocks closed sharply higher Tuesday, as hopes for a smooth Spanish bailout combined with positive U.S. numbers to trigger the risk on trade.
At the close of European trade, the EURO STOXX 50 jumped 2.53%, France’s CAC 40 rallied 2.36%, while Germany’s DAX 30 surged 1.58%.
Stocks gained ground on Monday after official data showed that U.S. retail sales rose by a seasonally adjusted 1.1% in September, beating expectations for a 0.8% increase.
The data came after better-than-forecast Chinese trade data over the weekend eased concerns over a slowdown in the world’s second largest economy.
In the euro zone, the ZEW Centre said that its closely watched index of German economic sentiment improved to minus 11.5 in October from September’s reading of minus 18.2. Economists had forecast a reading of minus 15.0 this month.
Investors were looking ahead to Thursday’s European Union summit amid ongoing speculation over whether Spain will formally request a bailout from its euro zone partners in the coming weeks.
Financial stocks pushed higher, led by Spanish BBVA, up 3.43%, and followed by Banco Santander, whose shares surged 2.60%, while Italy's Unicredit and Intesa Sanpaolo rallied 2.02% and 2.52%.
French lenders BNP Paribas and Societe Generale soared 3.10% and 2.34%, while Germany's Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank climbed 2.85% and 2.68% respectively.
Elsewhere, Roche gained 0.41% after the Swiss drugmaker reported third-quarter sales of CHF11.3 billion, compared with the average analyst estimate of EUR11.2 billion.
In London, FTSE 100 advanced 0.94%, as U.K. lenders tracked their European counterparts higher and after data showed that consumer price inflation rose in line with expectations in September.
Shares in HSBC Holdings jumped 1.55% and the Royal Bank of Scotland surged 2.61%, while Barclays and Lloyds Banking rallied 2.87% and 4.74%.
Mining stocks added to gains, as shares in Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton advanced 2.07% and 1.04%, extending earlier gains, while copper producers Xstrata and Kazakhmys rose 1.25 and 2.46%.
Earlier in the day, Rio Tinto said iron ore production rose to 52.6 million metric tons in the three months to September 30, exceeding the average estimate of 50.65 million tons.
On the downside, Bumi shed 0.24%, after co-founder Nathaniel Rothschild resigned from the company's board and said in a letter to Chairman Samin Tan that shareholders aren't being treated equally under last week's USD1.2 billion proposal from Indonesia’s Bakrie family for the coal venture.
- Industrial production in the U.S. rose more-than-expected in September, after falling sharply in August, official data showed on Tuesday.
In a report, the U.S. Federal Reserve said that industrial production rose 0.4% in September, above expectations for a 0.2% increase.
Industrial production for August was revised down to a 1.4% drop from a previously reported decline of 1.2%.
The report showed that the capacity utilization rate, a measure of how fully firms are using their resources, rose to 78.3% in September from 78.0% in August, in line with expectation
In the U.S., equity markets followed higher with the Dow Jones up 0.89%, the S&P 500 higher by 1.00% and the tech heavy Nasdaq ahead by 1.15% in midsession trade.
Investors are awaiting China’s CPI as well as meeting minutes from Great Britain on Wednesday.