European Shares Edge Higher On Economic Optimism

European stocks rose on Tuesday to hit new highs, as investors digested mostly positive economic data and looked ahead to the release of key U.S. inflation data due on Thursday for clues on when the Federal Reserve may begin to talk about tapering its asset purchases.

The pan European Stoxx 600 rose 0.3 percent to 455.03 after closing 0.2 percent higher on Monday. The German DAX inched up 0.2 percent, while France’s CAC 40 index and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 were up around 0.4 percent.

Roche Holding rose half a percent. The Swiss diagnostics and pharmaceutical giant said it has received CE mark for its SARS-CoV-2 Antigen Self-Test Nasal for at-home testing. The test provides results in as little as 15 minutes.

Drug maker Lonza jumped 5 percent after Goldman Sachs upgraded the stock to “buy”.

Airbus shares were up 0.6 percent in Paris. The aircraft manufacturing giant said it delivered 50 planes in May, up 11 percent from the previous month.

British American Tobacco advanced 1.8 percent in London after the company upgraded its 2021 revenue guidance, citing strong pricing and volumes for combustible tobacco.

Aviva rallied 3.6 percent after activist investor Cevian Capital said it had built up a near 5 percent stake in the insurer.

German airline Lufthansa dropped 2.3 percent on a brokerage downgrade.

In economic releases, German industrial output dropped 1 percent on a monthly basis in April, reversing a revised 2.2 percent rise in March, data from Destatis revealed earlier in the day. Economists had forecast an increase of 0.5 percent.

German economic sentiment weakened unexpectedly in June but financial market experts’ assessment of current situation improved sharply, survey data from the ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research showed.

The ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment dropped to 79.8 in June from 84.4 in the previous month. The score was forecast to rise to 86.0.

Assessment of the current economic situation improved significantly with the index rising to -9.1 from 40.1 a month ago.

Revised data from Eurostat showed GDP in the 19 countries sharing the euro contracted 0.3 percent sequentially for a 1.3 percent annual decline.

That is a modest upside revision compared with the previous estimates of -0.6 percent and -1.8 percent, respectively.

U.K. retail sales increased notably in May driven by the relaxation of restrictions related to the coronavirus pandemic, data from the British Retail Consortium showed.

Total sales grew 10 percent year-on-year in May and like-for-like sales climbed 23.7 percent.

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