LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Good news out of a clinical trial for an experimental treatment for the Covid-19 virus in the States helped lift the mood among investors across the Continent and helped to offset a grim set of economic data out of China.
Overnight, STAT News reported that "most" of the patients enrolled in a phase III clinical trial for Gilead Science's Remdesivir, in Chicago, the majority of whom had been "severely" ill, including some who were on ventilator support, had been discharged within a week after exhibiting rapid recoveries in fevers and respiratory symptoms.

For some analysts, the discovery and validation of successful treatments would be key in gradually reopening economies, at least partially, around the world.

Against that backdrop, as of 1200 GMT, the benchmark Stoxx 600 was ahead by 3.10% to 335.01, alongside a 4.23% jump for the German Dax to 10,736.85 while the FTSE Mibtel was adding 2.79% to 17,236.58.

The Stoxx 600's sector gauge for Travel & Leisure was pacing gains, jumping by 6.77%, alongside a 6.01% advance for a gauge of Autos&Parts companies.

On the macroeconomic front, China's National Bureau of Statistics reported a historic 6.8% year-on-year contraction in the country's economy, versus 6% growth during the prior three-month stretch and expectations for a drop of 6.0%.

Industrial production data for March did surprise to the upside, but the opposite was true when it came to retail sales.

The latter prompted Michael Hewson at CMC Markets UK to tell clients: "If that pattern is repeated here in Europe then any recovery here, as well as the US, is likely to be a slow long drawn out affair, once lockdown restrictions are lifted.

"That also assumes a smooth exit without a rise in infections, which as Singapore is finding out, is easier said than done."

Out of the euro area itself, Eurostat confirmed a slowdown in the year-on-year rate of increase in consumer prices from 1.2% for February to 0.7% in March.

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