European Stocks Close On Strong Note As Investors Cheer Earnings Updates

European stocks closed on a firm note on Friday with investors cheering a slew of strong earnings updates from U.S. big names Alphabet and Microsoft, and a few European companies, and shrugging of interest rate concerns for now.

The pan European Stoxx 600 climbed 1.11%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 0.75%, Germany's DAX advanced 1.36% and France's CAC 40 ended higher by 0.89%, while Switzerland's SMI gained 0.74%.

Among other markets in Europe, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Turkiye closed with sharp to moderate gains.

Austria and Ireland ended weak.

Data from U.S. Commerce Department showed the consumer price index rose by 0.3% in March. The report said the annual rate of consumer price growth accelerated to 2.7% in March from 2.5% in February. Economists had expected the pace of growth to tick up to 2.6%.

The annual rate of growth by core consumer prices in March came in unchanged from February at 2.8%, while economists had expected the pace of growth to slow to 2.6%.

The readings on inflation, which are said to be preferred by the Federal Reserve, were included in the Commerce Department's report on personal income and spending in the month of March.

In European economic news, data from INSEE said France's consumer sentiment index dropped to 90 in April from 91 in the previous month. The index was expected to rise to 92.

British consumer sentiment improved in April on slowing inflation as well as expectations about further tax cuts, a monthly survey conducted by the market research group GfK revealed Friday. The consumer confidence index rose to -19 in April from -21 in March. The score was also better than economists' forecast of -20.

In the UK market, Natwest Group rallied more than 6%. The lender reported a slightly smaller-than-expected fall in income and profit for its first quarter.

Ashtead Group climbed nearly 6%. Rolls-Royce Holdings, ICG, RS Group, St. James's Place, JD Sports Fashion, Anglo American Plc and Hikma Pharmaceuticals gained 3 to 4%.

Persimmon, F&C Investment, Melrose Industries, Pershing Square Holdings, Land Securities Group, Weir Group, Taylor Wimpey, Lloyds Banking Group and WPP surged 2 to 3%.

Convatec Group tumbled about 6.5%. Beazley and Entain both lost about 3.1%. Ocado Group and Associated British Foods ended lower by 2.5% and 1.9%, respectively.

In Germany, Siemens Energy rallied more than 5%. Puma, Sartorius, Vonovia, Qiagen, Daimler Truck Holding, SAP, HeidelbergCement, Siemens, Deutsche Post, Bayer and Rheinmetall gained 2 to 4.3%.

Porsche, Adidas, MTU Aero Engines, Merck, Zaland, Merceds-Benz, BMW, Infineon, Volkswagen, RWE and Siemens Healthineers also posted strong gains.

Shares of food deliver giant Delivery Hero tanked 16% on concerns the Chinese food delivery giant Meituan's reported move to hire staff in Saudi Arabia, might hurt the German firm's operations in the country.

BASF, Munich RE and Fresenius Medical Care declined sharply. Deutsche Bank and Brenntag also closed weak.

In the French market, Saint Gobain surged more than 6% after the company's first-quarter revenue topped forecasts.

Kering, Schneider Electric, WorldLine, Hermes International, Legrand, TotalEnergies, Publicis Groupe and Carrefour gained 2 to 3.1%.

LVMH, Dassault Systemes, Stellantis, Thales, Bouygues, Teleperformance and Renault also ended notably higher.

BNP Paribas, STMicroElectronics, Danone and Eurofins Scientific ended lower by 1.3 to 2.4%.

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