BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - European stocks rebounded on Friday after falling sharply in the previous session on concerns over a second wave of coronavirus infections and a gloomy economic outlook.
The pan European Stoxx 600 rose by 1.2 percent to 357.38 after falling 4.1 percent on Thursday.
The German DAX rallied 1.3 percent, France's CAC 40 index jumped as much as 1.9 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was up 1.3 percent.
Banks led the surge, with Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank and Societe Generale surging 3-6 percent.
Automakers BMW, Daimler, Volkswagen and Peugeot gained 2-4 percent, while Renault climbed 5.5 percent.
Interparfums soared as much as 13 percent after it signed an exclusive and worldwide license agreement for fragrances with Italy's Moncler.
Travel-related companies rose in London after airlines launched legal action against the government's quarantine rules for inbound travelers.
British Airways owner International Consolidated Airlines Group surged 5.7 percent, easyJet Plc jumped almost 7 percent and Ryanair Holdings gained 1 percent.
Shares of Games Workshop Group jumped 10 percent after the manufacturer of miniature war games lifted its forecast for fiscal 2020 pre-tax profit.
Pearson advanced 12 percent after a regulatory filing revealed activist investment firm Cevian Capital has built a stake in the education company.
Informa gained more than 9 percent. The events and academic-publishing group said it has identified cost savings of at least GBP400 million.
In economic news, Eurozone industrial output decreased 17.1 percent on a monthly basis in April, following an 11.9 percent drop in March, data from Eurostat showed. Production was expected to decline 20 percent.
This was the largest monthly fall recorded since the start of the series and bigger than the reductions seen during the global financial crisis.
On a yearly basis, industrial production fell by a record 28 percent in April after easing 13.5 percent in March. Economists had expected a 29.5 percent fall.
U.K. GDP contracted by 20.4 percent in April from March, when it was down 5.8 percent, official data showed. GDP was forecast to fall 18.4 percent. In three months to April, GDP decreased 10.4 percent, slightly faster than the expected fall of 10 percent.
Industrial output declined by a record 20.3 percent in April from the previous month, with manufacturing providing the biggest downward contribution, falling by a record 24.3 percent.
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