European Markets Rallied On Yellen Comments

(RTTNews) - The European markets ended Friday's session solidly in positive territory, but ended a turbulent week with overall losses. Investors were heartened by comments from Janet Yellen late Thursday, which provided the clarity investors had been seeking on the direction of U.S. monetary policy.

Fed chief Janet Yellen stated yesterday that the Fed remains on track to raise interest rates by year's end. Specifically, Yellen said the more "prudent strategy is to begin tightening in a timely fashion and at a gradual pace."

"If the FOMC were to delay the start of the policy normalization process for too long, we would likely end up having to tighten policy relatively abruptly to keep the economy from significantly overshooting its goals," Yellen said in prepared remarks at the University of Massachusetts.

The remarks came a week after the Fed left interest rates near zero yet again. The move left investors confused about when the long-anticipated interest rate hike - the first in nearly a decade - was likely to happen. The Bank of England sees risks in both China and emerging market economies to affect U.K. financial stability through the direct exposures of British banks.

BoE's Financial Policy Committee said Friday that the immediate risks in relation to Greece and the euro area have fallen somewhat but other downside risks to financial stability stemming from the global environment have increased.

Disorderly conditions in one market can spill over to others. The FPC cautioned about future heightened volatility and reductions in market depth. The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks increased by 3.11 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, added 3.08 percent.

The DAX of Germany climbed by 2.77 percent and the CAC 40 of France rose 3.07 percent. The FTSE of the U.K. gained 2.47 percent and the SMI of Switzerland finished higher by 2.75 percent.

In Frankfurt, Volkswagen fell 3.88 percent on reports that the automaker will name Matthias Mueller, the head of its Porsche Sports car brand, as its new chief executive.

BMW increased by 4.49 percent and Daimler added 3.83 percent. Continental also finished higher by 4.73 percent.

Merck KGaA climbed 2.60 percent. The drug and chemical company and Pfizer Inc. said they would collaborate with Dako, an Agilent Technologies company, to jointly develop and commercialize avelumab, an investigational immune checkpoint inhibitor.

Shares of Adidas finished higher by 4.13 percent after Nike Inc. posted better-than-expected sales and profit growth for the first quarter of fiscal 2016.

In Paris, car parts market Valeo gained 5.36 percent. Renault rose 2.18 percent and Peugeot added 0.69 percent.

Kering surged 6.18 percent and LVMH rose 4.93 percent. L'Oreal also finished with a gain of 5.56 percent.

In London, medical-devices sterilization company Synergy Health surged by 42.03 percent, after a federal court in Ohio refused to block the company's takeover by Steris Corp.

ARM Holdings climbed 5.99 percent, after Stifel Nicolaus initiated coverage on the stock with a "Buy" rating.

Heineken rose 2.64 percent in Amsterdam as the Dutch brewer announced the formation of a new joint venture in Ivory Coast under the name of "Brassivoire" to produce and market beer in the country.

Repsol gained 0.35 percent in Madrid. The Spanish major has reached an agreement to sell the 10 percent stake it held in Compañía Logística de Hidrocarburos to investment company Ardian for 325 million euros.

Eurozone money supply growth slowed more than expected in August while the annual increase in private sector credit improved, data from the European Central Bank showed Friday. The broad monetary aggregate M3 grew 4.8 percent in August from last year. Economists had forecast the annual growth in money supply to remain unchanged at 5.3 percent.

French consumer confidence strengthened in September to the highest level in almost eight years, figures from the statistical office INSEE showed Friday. The consumer confidence index rose to 97 in September from 94 in the previous month, which was revised up from 93. Economists had forecast the same score of 94.0 for the month.

U.S. economic growth was revised higher for the April-to-June period, raising expectations that the Federal Reserve will soon raise interest rates.

Updated government data showed that the U.S. Gross Domestic Product expanded at a revised rate of 3.9 percent in the second quarter. This was revised up from the 3.7 percent growth that was reported last month.

U.S. consumer sentiment fell in September compared to the previous month, according to a survey released Friday

The University of Michigan's final September reading on the overall index on consumer sentiment came in at 87.2, down from 91.9 in August.