On Friday, key European indices are showing spectacular gains thanks to overall optimism in global markets. In addition, investors are analyzing fresh statistics and financial reports from EU companies.

At the time of writing, the composite index of the leading European companies STOXX Europe 600 increased by 1.04% to 451.71.

The strong leader in the STOXX Europe 600 index today was the UK chemical company Johnson Matthey PLC, which has already soared by 19.4% since the beginning of the trading session.

Meanwhile, the French CAC 40 rose by 0.89%, the German DAX increased by 1.0%, and the British FTSE 100 jumped by 0.1%.

French liquor producer Remy Cointreau SA soared by 3.3%. In Q4, the company's revenue decreased by 1%, while the final reading was higher than preliminary market forecasts.

Shares of Italian oil and gas company Eni SpA rose by 1.1% after a 4.2-fold increase in profits in the first quarter was reported. The main reason for the company's strong financial results was a significant rise in oil and gas prices.

The capitalization of Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk AS soared by 4.8%. In the first quarter, the manufacturer expanded its buyback program and increased net profit above market expectations.

The share price of the British-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca Plc dropped by 0.3%. In the first quarter of 2022, the net profit of the well-known vaccine developer sagged by 75%. At the same time, the volume of revenues increased by more than 1.5 times.

Yesterday US stock indices reported robust growth. Earlier on Friday, key indicators of Asia-Pacific markets also showed strong gains.

There is spectacular growth in other world markets as well. Thus, the cost of oil is increasing by more than 1%, and the euro is rapidly strengthening against the US dollar.

On Friday, investors are closely watching the EU macro statistical indicators. According to the first estimates, in the first quarter, the gross domestic product of 19 eurozone countries increased by 5% on a yearly basis.

Meanwhile, at the end of April, the annual inflation rate in the euro area rose to 7.5% from 7.4% in March, and the level of consumer prices soared by 0.6%. At the same time, analysts forecasted that inflation would remain at the levels of the previous month.