Banks, commodity stocks rise; retailers gain in London
By Barbara Kollmeyer, MarketWatch
MADRID (MarketWatch) — Markets in Europe closed higher Thursday at the end of a choppy trading session in which the European Central Bank cut its growth forecasts and signalled an end to rate hikes, with resource stocks and banks posting some of the strongest gains.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index XX:SXXP +0.71% closed up 0.7% at 230.47 after rallying 3% in the prior session as fears about European sovereign-debt woes abated somewhat and as bargain hunters picked up cheap stocks.
