European Stocks Power Through To Record As Draghi Fuels Recovery
By Sofia Horta E. Costa and Inyoung Hwang
European equities sailed to a record as optimism about Mario Draghi?s stimulus lifted shares from carmakers to energy producers.
The biggest three-day rally since January propelled the? on Thursday above a previous all-time high reached in 2000. The gauge closed at 409.15 after a report showed German industrial production beat forecasts, the latest of data signaling the euro area?s economy is improving. It extended the record on Friday, rising 0.7 percent at 2:28 p.m. in London.
European stocks have gained 20 percent this year, including the steepest first-quarter advance since 1998, as the euro weakened amid quantitative-easing measures by the European Central Bank. While investors have been focusing on exporters, they?ll shift to companies dependent on a domestic rebound as the ECB?s stimulus pervades the economy, according to SEB AB?s Thomas Thygesen.
?The European story is entering a second stage,? Thygesen, SEB?s head of cross-asset strategy, said by phone from Copenhagen. ?All the ingredients for an outperformance have fallen into place and it?s by no means over.?
Euro-area growth will accelerate every quarter in 2015, economists forecast. Stocks have kept rallying even as the euro rebounded from its 12-year low versus the dollar on March 16.