Staff of Reuters 2 minutes Read (Click LIVE/ or type LIVE/ in a news window for a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK, and European financial markets.) 16 JULY (Reuters) – European stocks climbed on Friday, as travel stocks recovered from earlier this week’s steep losses, as a slew of optimistic earnings announcements offset concerns about an increase in Delta variant cases throughout the continent. By 0722 GMT, the pan-European STOXX 600 index had risen 0.3 percent, putting it on track to conclude the week flat to slightly lower. The top gainers among sectors were travel and retail. Swedbank surged 3.4 percent in results after reporting a better-than-expected profit amid a growing mortgage market and record commission income. Richemont, the producer of Cartier, was up 1% as quarterly constant-currency sales more than doubled, boosted by its jewelry brands’ excellent performance in the Americas. Ericsson, of Sweden, fell 9.4% after reporting second-quarter core earnings that fell short of market expectations, owing to a drop in mainland China sales. Following severe losses earlier this week, the FTSE 100 and midcap equities in the United Kingdom rebounded 0.5 percent each, with additional pandemic restrictions scheduled to be eased on Monday. (Bengaluru-based reporter Sruthi Shankar contributed to this report; Uttaresh.V edited it.)/n
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