STOXX 600 gains 0.8
Adidas, Puma top STOXX 600 after Nike results
Philips gains on positive test results

Dec 21 Reuters European shares rose on Wednesday as sportswear makers Adidas and Puma gained after upbeat results from Nike, while improving economic outlook for the euro zone also lifted sentiment.

The regionwide STOXX 600 index was up 0.8 at 0922 a.m. GMT.

Germany39;s DAX index rose 0.7 after the Ifo economic institute said the outlook for employment in Germany, Europe39;s largest economy, was positive for the first quarter of next year.

The Ifo survey follows an uptick in a euro zone consumer confidence in December, according to figures released on Tuesday.

The market was pricing a very bad recession with potentially rolling blackouts and stop of industrial plans due to insufficient supply of energy and now the market is pricing out a bit of that, said Davide Oneglia, Chief Europe Economist at TS Lombard.

The winter is just really beginning so we don39;t know what is going to happen, but at the moment certainly markets are feeling more positive about the outlook and so that39;s good for stocks.

Globally, equities edged higher in what has been a bleak month so far dominated by hawkish rhetoric by major central banks and worries about rising COVID19 cases in China.

The STOXX 600 has shed 2.8 so far in December after two straight months of gains that were underpinned by hopes that cooling inflation would allow the Federal Reserve and other central banks…