European shares have risen today amid growing expectations markets may be bottoming out and investor focus on corporate good news including an Intel tie-up with KPNQwest.
Technology and telecom stocks led the advancers today despite warnings overnight from a batch of US technology firms. Investors said sentiment was less brittle than in the past few sessions.
In early trade in Europe today, the FTSE Eurotop 300 index added 1.2 per cent and the DJ Euro Stoxx 50 put on 1.6 per cent.
But benchmark indices across Europe are still in danger of retesting the lows of autumn 1998, when the devaluation of the Russian rouble and the following high-profile collapse of hedge fund LTCM sparked the last major market slump.
The next big test comes on Friday, with the publication of reports on US August producer prices, retail sales, industrial production and capacity utilisation, and consumer sentiment.
Investors are on red alert for more earnings shockers as companies prepare to brief markets on how business is going ahead of third-quarter results in October.
There was no clear incentive from Wall Street last night. The blue chip Dow Jones industrial average finished off 0.34 of a point, compared with a gain of 40 points at the end of London trading.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq was up 7.68 points, having been 10 points higher when the London market closed.