European stocks rise, supported by hopes that the US interest rate hike will stop

European stocks rose on Friday, on the verge of recording weekly gains for the fourth week in a row, supported by hopes that the Federal Reserve (the US central bank) will soon stop raising interest rates after recording lower-than-expected inflation in March.

The pan-European STOXX 600 was up 0.3% by 0707 GMT, after overnight data showed producer prices in the United States fell unexpectedly in March.

The real estate sector index led the gains, up 0.7 percent, while the insurance sector shares fell 0.6 percent.

The Stoxx 50 blue-chip index held Wednesday’s 22-year high, rising 0.3 percent.

Hermes Group rose 0.9 percent, helped by a 23 percent increase in sales in the first quarter, above market expectations.

TomTom shares jumped 11.8% after the Dutch digital navigation and mapping application company reported better-than-expected first-quarter revenue.

Investors will be closely watching US corporate earnings, which will begin reporting later on Friday, with a focus on big banks including JPMorgan, Wells Fargo and Citigroup, as last month’s regional banking crisis and slowing economy loomed over the banking sector.