London — European stocks opened much higher on Thursday, pushing world stocks to new four-month highs after the EU and the US agreed to negotiate on trade, easing some of the fears of a transatlantic trade war. The concern over the slowing pace of world economic growth and some lacklustre company earnings reports capped some of equity gains, however, as did the lingering fear that Washington’s trade tensions with China could escalate further. In what the EU chief called a "major concession", US President Donald Trump agreed on Wednesday to refrain from imposing car tariffs while the two sides launch negotiations to cut other trade barriers. There were gains across the board for European stocks on Thursday morning, led by the continent’s car sector, which was up 2%; at one point German’s export-reliant and car-heavy index rose 1.4%. A pan-European stock index rose 0.5% while the MSCI world equity index, which tracks shares in 47 countries, hit its highest since March 16 on the news. ...
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