April 22 Reuters European stocks moved towards record highs on Thursday after stumbling earlier in the week, as a set of strong earnings reports brightened sentiment ahead of the European Central Banks policy decision.

The panEuropean STOXX 600 index rose 0.4 by 0707 GMT, extending gains for a second straight session after fears of a new wave of COVID19 cases pushed European markets to their worst day in 2021 on Tuesday.

Nestle rose 2.2 after reporting its strongest quarterly sales growth in 10 years, helped by demand for coffee, dairy and petcare products.

Swedish truckmaker AB Volvo jumped 4.6 as it beat market expectations for firstquarter core earnings on the back of surging demand.

Credit Suisse fell 5.7 after it posted a 757 million Swiss franc 825.97 million pretax loss in the first quarter, as the Archegos hit wiped out gains from bumper trading.

Reporting by Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta

Source Reuters