European Stocks Higher; Positive Corporate Sentiment Ahead of ECB By Investing.com – Investing.com

European Stocks Higher; Positive Corporate Sentiment Ahead of ECB By Investing.com – Investing.com

© Reuters.

By Peter Nurse 

Investing.com - European stock markets traded higher Thursday, continuing the global rally, helped by generally positive corporate results ahead of the latest meeting of the European Central Bank. 

At 3:45 AM ET (0845 GMT), the in Germany traded 0.4% higher, the in France rose 0.5% and the U.K.'s climbed 0.2%.

The major indices all closed higher on Wall Street Wednesday, as investors resumed bets on reopening stocks, shrugging off a fresh wave of Covid-19 cases in the likes of India and Japan that threatens to slow the global recovery.

Stock markets in Asia largely followed suit, with Japan's in particular closing over 2% higher, and Europe has continued the theme.

Pernod Ricard (PA:) stock climbed over 2%, to its highest level in a year, after the French drinks maker reported strong sales growth in the three months to the end of March, helped by strong demand in its key U.S. and Chinese markets. U.K. rival Diageo (LON:) also benefited on a read across, with its stock climbing 1.4%, to a 52-week high.

SAP (DE:) stock rose 2% after CEO Christian Klein said the software group had "an absolute blowout in the cloud" in