European Stocks Higher; Next Shines With Lifted Profit Guidance By Investing.com – Investing.com

European Stocks Higher; Next Shines With Lifted Profit Guidance By Investing.com – Investing.com

© Reuters.

By Peter Nurse 

Investing.com - European stock markets traded higher Wednesday, continuing to rebound after the weak start to the week with earnings season continuing in strong style.

At 4:15 AM ET (0815 GMT), the in Germany traded 0.6% higher, the in France rose 1.3% and the U.K.’s climbed 1.6%.

Global stock indices have stabilized after Monday’s sharp losses on fears the recent surge of Covid-19 cases will derail the global economic recovery. While the uncertainty caused by the increase of infections, caused mainly by the highly-transmissible delta variant, remains, investors have been buoyed by a mainly positive quarterly earnings season.

Next (LON:) stock soared almost 9% after the British fashion retailer smashed its sales expectations, with a rise of 19% in sales in the last 11 weeks compared with two years ago, and raised its profit guidance.

Novartis (DE:) stock rose 2% after the Swiss drugmaker beat expectations for its second-quarter profit while keeping its 2021 guidance.

There were also upward revisions to guidance from SAP (DE:), Europe's largest software company, while paints maker Akzo Nobel (OTC:) also beat forecasts but warned of enduring issues with raw material costs and availability.