VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Major U.S. stock indexes rose and European shares recovered losses on Thursday after strong U.S. economic data, while the British pound eased off mid-September highs.

Asian markets benefited from speculation among investors that major central banks are considering slowing their aggressive interest hikes, given signs of an economic slowdown.

U.S. treasury yields fell after data showed the country's economic growth rebounded more than expected in the third quarter.

Oil prices extended their rally on optimism over record U.S. crude exports.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) rose 1.67% and the S&P 500 (.SPX) gained 0.73% by 10:31 a.m. ET (1431 GMT). The Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) recovered early losses and was up 0.13%, overcoming pressure from this week's disappointing Big Tech earnings.

"The U.S. is not currently in recession, given the strength of the consumer sector. However, excluding the more volatile categories, the trajectory for growth looks weak," Jeffrey Roach, Chief Economist for LPL Financial, said.

"A silver lining is markets have possibly priced in much of the near-term recession risks."

Europe's STOXX 600 (.STOXX) touched its highest level since Sept. 20 as the European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde spoke. It was last up 0.21%.

The ECB raised rates by 75 basis points, in line with expectations, and signalled that it was keen to start shrinking its bloated balance sheet.

The more dovish tone pushed the euro back below parity against the U.S. dollar . Yields on the benchmark 10-year German bund dropped to a three-week low of 1.992% .

The MSCI world equity index (.MIWD00000PUS), which tracks shares in 47 countries, also recovered losses. It was up 0.62%, holding below Wednesday's five-week high.

London's FTSE 100 was up 0.34% (.FTSE) while Germany's DAX was up 0.13% (.GDAXI), both recovering earlier losses.

Investors are focused on the outlook for future rate hikes.

"We expect the ECB to slow its pace of rate rises, hiking 'only' another 50 bps in December," said Altaf Kassam, head of EMEA investment strategy and research at State Street Global Advisors.

Disappointing earnings have soured the mood in global markets in recent sessions. U.S. heavyweights including Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) and Alphabet inc (GOOGL.O) reported worse-than-expected earnings.

"Earnings have been better in Europe than they have in the U.S. mainly because of that mix of old economy, new economy," said Patrick Spencer, vice chairman of equities at Baird, referring to the dominance of technology companies in the United States compared to oil and materials companies in Europe.

Emerging market stocks extended gains to a third straight session. MSCI's index of EM stocks (.MSCIEF) was up more than 1%.

The Bank of Canada delivered a smaller-than-expected rate hike late on Wednesday, bolstering investors' hopes that central banks would slow their aggressive pace of rate hikes.

Data on Thursday also showed the Federal Reserve's interest rate increases hurt consumer spending.

The Fed is expected to deliver a 75-bps hike in November, but speculation that it may be less aggressive afterwards has led the dollar to decline 1.4% so far this week.

The yen gave back early gains seen ahead of Friday's Bank of Japan meeting. Most analysts expect the central bank to maintain its ultra-low interest rates .

Gold eased, weighed by the greenback's advance. Spot price were down 0.03%.

Brent crude futures were 1.3% while U.S. crude prices gained 1.25%. (Reuters)