European shares edged higher after a strong rally in the previous session on signs of U.S. inflation cooling, while Aegon climbed after the Dutch insurer raised its full-year forecast.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index (.STOXX) rose 0.1%, after clocking its best session in nearly two weeks; on bets that the softer-than-expected inflation reading will encourage the Federal Reserve to become less aggressive on interest rates hikes.
The STOXX 600 is down about 9% so far this year , compared with a more than 11% decline for Wall Street’s S&P 500 index (.SPX). U.S. Equities are heavily dependent on moves in big technology stocks, which fell sharply in the first half of the year on worries over rising interest rates.
“The big decline in global markets in the first quarter was associated with these big growth stocks in the U.S. falling, and therefore Europe, which is less heavy on those, outperformed,” Paris-Horvitz added.