European stocks rose on Friday as chipmakers boosted markets and signs emerged from Washington that politicians were approaching a deal on the US debt ceiling.
Europe’s region-wide Stoxx 600 gained 0.5 per cent, France’s Cac 40 added 0.6 per cent and London’s FTSE 100 picked up 0.7 per cent.
The moves come a day after Nvidia’s quarterly earnings came in above analysts’ expectations, lifting other artificial intelligence-related stocks to help the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite finish 1.7 per cent higher. The benchmark S&P 500 rose 0.9 per cent.
Meanwhile, US president Joe Biden signalled late on Thursday that White House officials were “making progress” in negotiations over the US debt ceiling.
Contracts tracking Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 and those tracking the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 were flat ahead of the New York open.
The yield on Treasuries maturing in a month — close to the date when the US government could run out of money — was at 5.8 per cent on Friday, having slipped from a high of 6.01 per cent earlier in the week.
The yield on the policy-sensitive two-year bills rose 0.02 percentage points to 4.52 per cent. The yield on the benchmark 10-year note was flat at 3.81 per cent. Bond yields rise as prices fall.
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