ARNC Arconic Corporation

Global stocks extended their gains on Wednesday, as investor sentiment continued to improve and markets from Europe to Asia were buoyed by another record close on Wall Street.

The Stoxx Europe 600 was up 0.4% in early morning trade, with France's CAC 40 rising 0.4% and Germany's DAX adding 0.2%.

Asian equity markets gained on Wednesday, boosted by investor expectations that Japan may consider more stimulus measures to jump-start its economy. The Japanese government is planning a "bold economic stimulus" to defeat deflation, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average closed 0.8% higher while the yen rose 0.4% against the dollar at ¥ 104.3 on Wednesday.

The gains in Asia came after the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 0.7% to a record close Tuesday. The S&P 500 also notched a record close, its second in two days, as investors started to buy their way back into riskier sectors.

In Britain, Theresa May is expected to take over as the U.K.'s new prime minister later in the day after three weeks of political turmoil since the country voted to leave the European Union last month. The British pound was broadly flat against the greenback.

In the U.S., the earnings season got under way Monday with Alcoa Inc. beating expectations. Analysts forecast corporate earnings in the S&P 500 to fall for a fifth straight quarter.

In commodities, Brent crude, the international oil price benchmark, traded down 1.7% at $47.65 a barrel Wednesday after industry data showed a surprise increase in U.S. oil supplies. The official government data will be released later in the trading day.

Kenan Machado contributed to this article.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 13, 2016 04:25 ET (08:25 GMT)

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