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Aug 23 (Reuters) - European shares inched higher early on
Friday, with all eyes on a speech by Federal Reserve Chief
Jerome Powell for confirmation the the U.S. central bank is
still on course to deliver another cut in interest rates next
month.
The highly-anticipated address at the Jackson Hole symposium
is due at 1400 GMT and follows minutes from the Fed's July
meeting which have cooled money market expectations of a bigger
half-point cut next month.
Some more encouraging data points this week have also helped
ease market fears of recession - the main driver of a sell-off
in the first half of August as well as of expectations that the
Fed and other central banks would respond with more easing.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index .STOXX rose 0.5% at 0710
GMT, rebounding from a fall on Thursday due to by mixed readings
of business growth across major economies and as a jump in the
pound slammed London stocks.
The FTSE 100 .FTSE index also rose 0.5%, while the
euro-zone benchmark .STOXXE gained 0.6% and outperformed the
market.
SimCorp A/S jumped 7.7%, and was the biggest gainer on the
benchmark index, after the software company upgraded its
financial forecast for 2019.