- Child 'trampled to death' in asylum seekers' Channel crossing: minister
- Gauff fights back to set up Beijing final against Muchova
- Guardiola claims Premier League won't delay season for Man City
- Israel to mark October 7 attack as Gaza war spreads
- Gauff fights back to reach China Open final
- Recovering Stokes ruled out of first Pakistan Test
- Hezbollah battles troops on border as Israel pounds Lebanon
- Alcaraz, Sinner breeze into third round of Shanghai Masters
- Bagnaia wins Japan MotoGP sprint to cut Martin's lead
- Alcaraz breezes into third round of Shanghai Masters
- Gaza cultural heritage brought to light in Geneva
- 'Bullet for democracy': Trump returns to site of rally shooting
- Italy targets climate activists in 'anti-Gandhi' demo clampdown
- South Korean cult-horror series 'Hellbound' returns at BIFF
- Nepalis fear more floods as climate change melts glaciers
- Honduras arrests environmentalist's alleged murderer
- Padres pitcher Musgrove needs elbow surgery
- Supreme Court lets stand rules to curb mercury, methane emissions
- Boston beat Denver in NBA exhibition season opener, but Jokic says omens are good
- Chagos diaspora angry at lack of input on islands' fate
- Biden says 'not confident' of peaceful US election
- US trade chief defends tariff hikes when paired with investment
- Lukaku stars as Napoli beat Como to hold Serie A top spot
- Ohtani set for MLB playoff debut as Dodgers face Padres
- Pogba's drug ban cut to 18 months from four years
- Devine leads New Zealand to big win over India in Women's T20 World Cup
- Bosnia floods kill 16 people
- EU court blocks French ban on vegetable 'steak' labelling
- Prosecutors seek dismissal of rape charges against French rugby players
- Meta AI turns pictures into videos with sound
- Bolivia's Morales says claims he raped a minor are a 'lie'
- MLB Reds hire two-time champion Francona as manager
- Daniel Maldini receives first Italy call-up for Nations League
- US dockworkers return to ports after three-day strike
- Ancelotti points finger at Madrid's 'lack of intensity'
- Haiti reeling after 70 killed in gang attack
- Five Czech kids in hospital over TikTok 'piercing challenge'
- What happens next in Iran-Israel conflict?
- Country star Garth Brooks denies rape accusations
- Stubbs hits maiden century as South Africa make 343-4 against Ireland
- DR Congo to begin mpox vaccination campaign Saturday in east
- Odegaard injury has forced Arsenal to be 'different', says Arteta
- Ratcliffe refuses to guarantee Ten Hag's Man Utd future
- Meta must limit data use for targeted ads: EU court
- Mauritius to hold legislative election on November 10
- Britain qualify for America's Cup final after 60-year wait
- IMF asks Sri Lanka to protect hard-won gains
- Morata returns to Spain Nations League squad after injury
- Irish regulator to probe Ryanair use of facial recognition
- Public allowed to see video evidence in France mass rape trial
Stock markets rise on busy corporate earnings day
Stock markets rose on Thursday as investors digested a slew of company results and shrugged off a worse-than-expected US economic contraction.
In foreign exchange, the dollar traded around 20-year peaks versus the yen and at the highest level in more than five years against the euro as the Federal Reserve aggressively hikes US interest rates.
Trading is volatile across major assets as investors remain on high alert over a range of crises including the Ukraine war, surging inflation, higher interest rates and Chinese Covid lockdowns.
Attention is on the ongoing earnings season which has seen a mixed bag of results that have weighed on tech firms.
There was some cheer, however, from a forecast-beating reading by Facebook parent Meta on Wednesday, which analysts said could provide some relief to the sector.
Twitter released mixed first-quarter results Thursday, with revenues missing estimates but active users rising, three days after agreeing to be acquired by Tesla boss Elon Musk.
Apple and Amazon are also releasing quarterly results later on Thursday.
Wall Street opened higher, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq up 1.3 percent in early deals.
European markets were also up in afternoon trading while Asia's major markets closed higher.
"The market is going to try, try again to get some rebound momentum going to repair what has been a damaging month," said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare.
"There is a lot of repairing that needs to be done, too," O'Hare said, noting that the major US indices were sharply down for the month.
US government data, meanwhile, showed the economy shrank by 1.4 percent in the first quarter as the Omicron variant of Covid-19 and tapering of government spending hit consumers and business.
Investors are also worried about surging inflation, which is causing central banks around the globe to hike interest rates.
In Germany, consumer prices rose at their fastest pace in four decades in April, climbing to 7.4 percent, data showed Thursday.
Sweden's central bank on Thursday became the latest to lift rates, from zero to 0.25 percent.
The Federal Reserve is next week expected to lift US interest rates by half a point and signal further big increases through the year.
But the Bank of Japan decided to keep its ultra-loose monetary policy unchanged on Thursday, prompting the Tokyo stock market to close higher.
So far the European Central Bank has refused to tighten borrowing costs and on Thursday ECB vice-president Luis de Guindos said a surge in eurozone consumer prices is "very close" to reaching its peak.
Soaring prices are impacting consumers and businesses everywhere.
British consumer goods giant Unilever announced a jump in revenue after it passed on higher costs to customers.
McDonald's also reported rising first-quarter sales on price hikes, though profits tumbled due to an unspecified tax issue.
In other corporate news, shares in Standard Chartered soared in London after the bank that is focused on Asia and emerging markets globally lifted its annual profits outlook after an upbeat first quarter.
- Key figures at around 1350 GMT -
New York - Dow: UP 0.4 percent at 33,433.18 points
London - FTSE 100: UP 1.1 percent at 7,505.20
Paris - CAC 40: UP 0.6 percent at 6,483.70
Frankfurt - DAX: UP 1.2 percent at 13,952.42
EURO STOXX 50: UP 0.4 percent at 3,684.44
Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 1.8 percent at 26,847.90 (close)
Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: UP 1.7 percent at 20,276.17 (close)
Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.6 percent at 2,975.48 (close)
Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0501 from $1.0556 late Wednesday
Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2434 from $1.2543
Euro/pound: UP at 84.46 pence from 84.14 pence
Dollar/yen: UP at 130.70 yen from 128.43 yen
Brent North Sea crude: DOWN 0.2 percent at $104.77 per barrel
West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.1 percent at $101.97 per barrel
P.Cavaco--PC