Europe Stocks Up As Summers Pulls Out Of Fed Race

European stock markets rallied at the open on Monday after Lawrence Summers pulled out of the race to become next U.S. Federal Reserve chairman.

The move paves the way for Janet Yellen, the Fed’s vice chairwoman, which is expected to scale back the central bank’s quantitative-easing program less aggressively than her rival Summers would. The Stoxx Europe 600 index gained 0.6% to 313.26, after closing out last week 1.8% higher.

Among notable movers in the index, shares of Hennes & Mauritz AB jumped 4.8% after a well-received sales update. Shares of Sanofi SA added 1.2% after Barclays lifted the drug maker to overweight from equal weight. Among country-specific indexes, the U.K.’s FTSE 100 index climbed 0.7% to 6,627.42, while France’s CAC 40 index added 0.7% to 4,143.85. Germany’s DAX 30 index put on 0.9% to 8,583.63.

Source : Marketwatch