Vote Gives European Stocks a Lift
European stocks shook off early weakness to end higher Thursday, and the euro rose, as upbeat U.S. data and Germany's approval of the European Financial Stability Facility extension propped up confidence--for now, at least.</br></br>The Stoxx Europe 600 index closed up 0.7% at 228.90. France's CAC-40 index ended up 1.1% at 3027.65 and Germany's DAX added 1.1% to 5639.58.</br></br>However, the U.K. market significantly underperformed its European peers. Weakness in key metals prices weighed on the FTSE 100's heavily weighted mining sector, pushing the index down 0.4% to 5196.84, as investors worried about the possibility of a hard landing in China.</br></br>Stocks edged cautiously higher ahead of Germany's crucial vote on the extension of the European Financial Stability Facility, which turned out to be favorable.</br></br>Later in the session, some encouraging U.S. data in the form of better-than-expected initial jobless claims and GDP numbers also helped to underpin sentiment. The U.S. economy expanded more than previously thought in the second quarter, providing a glimmer of hope. Gross domestic product grew at an inflation-adjusted rate of 1.3% from April to June, compared with a previous estimate of 1.0%. Meanwhile, data showed the number of workers filing initial jobless claims fell by 37,000 last week, versus expectations of a 3,000 drop.