FTSE MIB up 0.94%; DAX up 0.40%; CAC 40 up 0.51% (Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - Milan, 07 May - European shares opened higher, rising for a third straight session after gains in Asia and on Wall Street overnight. The Stoxx 600 index was up 0.60%.

Investors continued to monitor fresh earnings reports from European companies including BP, Deutsche Post, Infineon, Siemens Healthineers, UBS, Adecco, Bouygues, Banco de Sabadell and UniCredit.

Sentiment was still underpinned by renewed bets that the Federal Reserve would slash rates rates sooner than thought this year, following a softer than expected US nonfarm payrolls report on Friday. Last week the US central bank decided to hold interest rates steady at a range of 5.25% to 5.5% as widely expected amid sticky inflation, but Fed Chair Jerome Powell downplayed the possibility of a rate hike as the central bank's next move.

Traders also digested data showing that German industrial orders fell in March by 0.4% on the previous month, below the expected 0.4% rise.

Eurozone retail sales due later in the session are expected to show s 0.6% growth on the month in March, up from last month's 0.5% drop.

In European stock market dealings shares rose across the board, with financial services stocks leading the gains.

US stock futures pointed to a muted open after yesterday the Dow Jones Industrial Average wrapped its fourth straight positive session.

At 0734 GMT, the FTSE 100 was up 0.94% at 8,290 points, the the Frankfurt DAX was up 0.40% at 18,243 points. The Paris CAC 40 was up 0.51% at 8,037 points, while in Milan the FTSE MIB was up 0.85% at 34,277 points and in Madrid the IBEX 35 was up 0.60% at 10,983 points.

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(RADIOCOR) 07-05-24 09:52:24 (0260) 5 NNNN