European stocks rise for first time in 4 sessions on strong data

European stocks rose on Friday, to head for the first daily gain in 4 sessions, after strong data in Europe and Britain raised optimism about the global economic recovery and rising US bonds yield.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index rose 0.4% as of 11:15 GMT, after it closed lower by 0.8% yesterday on profit-taking from a 1-year high of 420.6 points.

The travel and leisure sector saw the largest gains in Europe today, rising around 1%, thanks to the positive news about Covid-19 vaccines.

The German authorities announced on Thursday that AstraZeneca-University of Oxford Covid-19 vaccine is highly effective, and its negative side effects are short-term.

Investors are focusing on the US 10-year Treasury bonds yield, after its jumped near a 1-year high of $1,331.

Analysts say that the rising bond yields could make investors shift to into bonds from, which foreshadows a sell-off move in Wall Street in the near future.

S&P 500 futures rose 0.4%, after the index closed lower by 1.1% yesterday at Wall Street in the third straight daily loss on profit-taking record high of 3,950.43 points.

Back to Europe, the Euro Stoxx 50 index rose 0.5%, France's CAC 40 rose 0.6%, and Germany DAX index rose 0.5%.

The UK's FTSE 100 fell 0.2%, as the pound sterling rose above $1.4 for the first time since April 2018, which weighs down on exports.