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* STOXX 600 reclaims April high
* Commodity stocks rally
* Adidas surges on forecast lift (Adds comment, updates prices)
By Sruthi Shankar
May 7 (Reuters) – European stocks hit a record high on Friday as strong economic data from Germany and other major economies as well as upbeat earnings underpinned hopes of a swift economic recovery from the pandemic shock.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.3% to 442.52 points after briefly surpassing its April record high of 443.61 in early session.
The German DAX rose 0.9%, inching closer to its life high, while France’s CAC 40 hit its highest level since November 2000 and UK’s FTSE 100 breached the 7,100 mark for the first time since February 2020.
Data showed German companies increased their exports for the eleventh month in a row in March, with growth coming in at 1.2%, twice the rate economists had forecast.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at an all-time high on Thursday after a strong U.S. weekly jobless claims data, while Asian stocks rose on upbeat trade report from China.
“It’s going to be an exceptionally strong couple of quarters going forward, and that makes it very unlikely that the market will suffer in a big way over the next six months,” said Andrea Cicione, head of strategy at TS Lombard.
“But the moment growth starts to slow down, as it naturally will, and that will probably be the same time that the Fed starts taking some liquidity away, making markets more vulnerable.”
Data later in the day is likely to show the U.S. economy added a million workers in April, with investors keenly watching the numbers for clues on the U.S. Federal Reserve’s next move.
On the earnings front, German sportswear company Adidas surged 7.7% after it raised its 2021 sales outlook.
Jewellery maker Pandora gained 3.3% after reporting 214% sales growth in April.
UK’s Meggitt jumped 14.3% to the top of STOXX 600 after a media report of takeover, while French mall owner Klepierre slipped 0.8% on trimming its 2021 cashflow forecast.
British Airways-owner IAG fell 1.2% on forecasting only a minimal increase in its capacity for the April to June quarter. (Reporting by Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva)