UKX FTSE 100 Index

By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch

Draghi not expected to rock policy boat at Jackson Hole

European stocks pushed higher Wednesday, with stocks continuing to recover after the flare-up in tensions between the U.S. and North Korea.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index picked up 0.7% to 379.07, with only the telecom group showing a minor decline. The benchmark on Tuesday ended up a modest 0.1% (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/european-stocks-cheer-north-koreas-pullback-on-missile-threat-2017-08-15).

"Over the past couple of days we've seen a decent rebound in equity markets as risky assets start to regain some of their attraction, as concerns about tensions in North Korea show signs of settling down a little," wrote Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets.

"In spite of the recent rebound we still remain below the levels we were sitting at a week ago, which suggests that a certain degree of caution still remains," he said.

Stock movers: Fiat Chrysler (FCA.MI) (FCA.MI) moved up 3.9%, building on an 8.2% advance from Monday following an Automotive News report (http://www.autonews.com/article/20170814/OEM/170819914/chinese-automakers-covet-fca) that several Chinese auto makers are considering a bid for the Italian-American vehicle maker. Fiat shares didn't trade Tuesday as trading in Italy was closed for a holiday.

In other Fiat news on Wednesday, the car maker said it is joining a consortium led by BMW (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/fiat-chrysler-joins-bmw-led-self-driving-car-group-2017-08-16)(BMW.XE) to develop self-driving cars technology. BMW shares rose 0.5% in Frankfurt.

Balfour Beatty PLC (BBY.LN) shot up 7.3%, the top gainer on the Stoxx 600, after the U.K. -based construction company swung to a half-year pretax profit (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/balfour-beatty-swings-to-pretax-profit-2017-08-16).

Admiral Group PLC (ADM.LN) tumbled 6.6% as the insurer's first-half profit increased but the company did see an impact from the higher cost of personal injury claims.

"Most of the adverse impact from the increase in the costs of large injury claims, resulting from the change in the Ogden discount rate, was captured in our 2016 second half result. However, some extra costs carry into 2017," Admiral said in its earnings report.

Carlsberg AS shares (CARL-A.KO) (CARL-A.KO) fell 3.7% as the Danish brewer's half-year revenue of 31.77 billion kroner came in below estimates of 32.29 billion kroner (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/carlsberg-operating-profit-rises-20-2017-08-16).

Indexes: Germany's DAX 30 index rose 0.9% to 12,281.92, and France's CAC 40 index gained 1% to 5,193.27.

The U.K.'s FTSE 100 index climbed 0.6% to 7,428.21. Italy's FTSE MIB tacked on 1.1% to 21,958,

The euro was buying $1.1732, not far off from $1.1736 late Tuesday in New York. The shared currency hit an intraday low of $1.1692 after a Reuters report (https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-ecb-policy-draghi-idUKKCN1AW0LL) that European Central Bank President Mario Draghi won't deliver a fresh policy message at the Federal Reserve's Jackson Hole conference next week.

Minutes from the Fed's latest policy meeting (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/dollar-steady-ahead-of-fed-minutes-pound-firms-after-jobless-data-2017-08-16) will be released at 7 p.m. London time, or 2 p.m. Eastern Time.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 16, 2017 05:30 ET (09:30 GMT)

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