BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - German stocks rose sharply on Wednesday as U.S. lawmakers moved toward agreement on a spending package and the European Union's chief executive said that there had been progress on Brexit trade deal.
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell vowed Tuesday that Congress would not adjourn for the year until the $748 billion relief deal is clinched.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that there is a 'path' to a Brexit deal and the next few days will be 'decisive'.
Investors await the outcome of the U.S. Federal Reserve's two-day meeting for clues about the policy outlook.
On the Covid-19 front, Germany has entered a strict Christmas lockdown in which schools and nonessential shops must close.
The benchmark DAX jumped 165 points, or 1.2 percent, to 13,528 after rallying 1.1 percent the previous day.
Rail technology company Vossloh jumped 4 percent. The company said it expects to achieve average annual sales growth of 4 to 5 percent in the medium term. It is significantly higher than the average market growth anticipated by relevant market studies.
Continental AG rallied 3.8 percent after presenting its realigned strategy with which it aims to achieve annual organic growth of around 5 to 8 percent on average in the mid-term.
Germany's BioNTech SE advanced 2.3 percent. The German biotechnology firm and Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical (Group) Co., Ltd. have announced an agreement to supply Mainland China with an initial 100 million doses of their BNT162 mRNA-based vaccine candidate against Covid-19 in 2021.
In economic releases, German private sector expanded again in December as the strength in manufacturing continuing to offset service sector weakness, survey results from IHS Markit revealed.
The flash composite output index climbed unexpectedly to 52.5 from 51.7 in November. The reading was forecast to fall to 50.4.
The services Purchasing Managers' index came in at 47.7, up from 46.0 a month ago and above the consensus forecast of 44.0. The manufacturing PMI advanced to 58.6 from 57.8 in November.
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