European stocks jump to fresh records as coronavirus infections slow

European stocks jumped on Wednesday to all-time highs and resume their rally after taking a breather yesterday, thanks to a global risk-on move and improved market sentiment, after Chinese data showed that the coronavirus spread is slowing down.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index was higher by 0.6% at 11:45 GMT, reaching its all-time high of 433.20 points, while it also closed lower by 0.4% on profit-taking and following Apple's revenue warnings for the first quarter of this year.

The index opened today's session higher, jumping to its all-time highs, with most of the major European exchanges and sectors rising today.

The mining sector saw the largest gains in Europe today, rising more than 0.8%, following Chinese data showing that the coronavirus outbreak is slowing down.

China revealed that the numbers of infected cases of the coronavirus have fallen for the second straight day, boosting hopes about the Chinese government's ability to contain the virus spread, which has sharply impacted the Chinese economy.

S&P 500 futures rose 0.2% today, after the index closed lower by 0.3% yesterday at Wall Street, on profit-taking from its all time high of 3,385.09 points.

Back to Europe, the Euro Stoxx 50 index added 0.6%, France's CAC 40 rose by 0.7%, and the UK's FTSE 100 rose by 0.75%.

While the German DAX rose by 0.5%, near its all-time high of 13,795.24 points.