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Euro STOXX 600 expands profits The euro becomes negative, bond yields fall The ECB maintains its policy firmly Press conference at 12:30 GMT Elon Musk is offering to buy Twitter for $ 41 billion

LONDON, April 14 (Reuters) – Shares rose as bond yields and the euro fell on Thursday as the European Central Bank saw a sharp drop in stimulus as Tesla chief executive Elon Musk offered to buy Twitter. for $ 41 billion in cash. Confirming its previous guidance, the ECB said it planned to cut bond purchases – known as quantitative easing – this quarter and then close them sometime in the third quarter. read more Following the ECB statement, the broader Euro STOXX 600 (.STOXX) index extended gains, rising 0.5%. The indices in Paris and Frankfurt (.FCHI) increased by 0.4%. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Travel and leisure stocks (.SXTP) were among the top earners in morning trading, with low-cost airline Wizz Air (WIZZ.L) rising more than 9% due to encouraging summer bookings. “We have confirmed that the asset purchase program will end in the third quarter,” said Stuart Cole, chief executive at Equiti Capital in London. “This leaves open the possibility of raising interest rates before the end of the year and therefore the market expectations for a first increase that will come in December are likely to stabilize.” The euro fell 0.25% to $ 1.0869 and eurozone bond yields fell sharply, with two-year German bond yields hovering almost 4 basis points a day at 0.046% versus 0.09% shortly before the announcement. of the ECB. . Although the ECB has avoided a more aggressive stance, a number of central banks around the world have tightened their policies as they struggle to curb spiraling inflation. On Thursday, the Bank of Korea surprised the markets with an increase in interest rates and the Singapore Monetary Authority also pursued a strict policy. New Zealand’s central bank raised interest rates by 50 basis points on Wednesday, the biggest increase in two decades. The Bank of Canada also raised interest rates by the same level, making its largest single move in more than two decades and pointing to more increases in the future. Market participants said that growth in large economies would be the key to whether central banks can further strengthen policy. “The big question for investors now is not whether we should price more increases, but rather the increases that are priced, how many of them can be delivered?” said Hugh Gimber, strategic global market analyst at JP Morgan Asset Management. “The key there will be growth prospects.” The global MSCI stock index (.MIWD00000PUS), which tracks stocks in 50 countries, rose 0.2%. The broader MSCI Asia-Pacific Index of shares outside Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS) had earlier risen 0.4%. The price hiking cycle is off MUSK TWITTER BID Wall Street futures fell slightly as a plethora of lenders revealed first-quarter earnings. read more Twitter Inc. (TWTR.N) jumped 12% after Tesla CEO Elon Musk offered to buy the social networking company for about $ 41 billion in cash, saying the social media company must be privatized to see effective changes. read more Hopes that US inflation may have peaked have led US bond yields to continue to fall, with the dollar also falling. The yield on 10-year government bonds was at 2.6806%, compared to a three-year high of 2.836%, before Tuesday’s data showed that inflation was lower than investors feared. As US yields stopped moving higher, the dollar fell from a two-year high a day earlier. The dollar index, which measures the unit against six bonds, rose 0.1% to 99,861 points, after falling 0.5% overnight from its high of 100.52. Oil prices fell amid low trading volumes ahead of the Easter holidays as traders weighed a larger-than-expected rise in U.S. oil inventories in the face of tightening global supply. Brent futures fell 1.5% to $ 107.23 a barrel. read more Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Report by Tom Wilson in London. Edited by Bernadette Baum Our role models: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.