European stocks rise in early trading after Carrefour shares jump over 13%

European stocks rose on Wednesday, resuming gains after a 2-day slide, but today's gains remain slim as investors parse the recent developments regarding the coronavirus pandemic, while retail giant Carrefour shares jumped more than 13% after merger talks with the Canadian company Alimentation Couche-Tard.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index rose 0.1% as of 10:25 GMT, after it closed lower by 0.15% yesterday on profit taking from an 11-month high of  411.92 points.

The pan European index opened higher today, resuming gains after a 2-day slide, with most of the major European markets and sectors seeing green.

The telecom sector saw the largest gains in Europe today, rising more than 1.5%, thanks to jump by Telefónica share by more than 7% after it announced selling telecommunication towers worth $9.4 billion to American Tours Corp.

Investors are parsing the recent developments regarding the coronavirus crisis in the region, with some European governments plans to speed up their vaccination campaigns.

S&P 500 futures rose 0.2%, after the index closed lower by 0.1% yesterday at Wall Street, on profit-taking from its record high of 3,826.69 points.

Back to Europe, the Euro Stoxx 50 index rose 0.1%, France's CAC 40 rose 0.3%, the UK's FTSE 100 added 0.15%, and Germany DAX index rose 0.1%.