Dow jumps 300 points as market stages a strong comeback from biggest sell-off in 3 months; European shares close slightly higher after a turbulent trading session; Nokia falls 13% 
U.S. stocks jumped on Thursday, roaring back from a sharp sell-off on Wall Street that saw the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average suffer their worst drop in three months. The S&P 500 rose 0.98%, while the blue-chip Dow gained 300.19 points, or 0.99%, boosted by Disney, Intel and American Express. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.5%. 
Shares of American Airlines surged 9.3% after the carrier posted better-than-feared quarterly results. Short covering also contributed to the gains as hedge funds and other short sellers rushed to buy shares to cut their losses. American Airlines is the most-shorted U.S. airline, according to FactSet. 
Apple turned in its largest revenue on record at $111.4 billion in its fiscal first-quarter earnings report for fiscal 2021. Sales for every product category rose by double-digit percentage points. Shares of the tech giant, however, dipped 3.5%. 
Tesla dropped 3.3% after the electric car maker posted worse-than-expected earnings for the latest quarter. The company also said it expects annual average delivery growth of 50% going forward. 
On the data front, gross domestic product increased at a 4.0% pace in the fourth quarter, slightly below the 4.3% expectation from economists surveyed by Dow Jones. 

European shares closed slightly higher Thursday, clawing back from earlier losses as global markets reacted to earnings news and a speculative buying frenzy in heavily-shorted stocks. The pan-European Stoxx 600 ended the session up by over 0.1%, having fallen by more than 2% in early trade. Travel and leisure shares were the top gainers, rising 1.3%, while telecoms stocks fell 2.2% to lead losses. 
European airlines received a boost on Thursday, with British Airways parent IAG and Germany’s Lufthansa bouncing 4.7% and 6.3% respectively after American Airlines reported a better-than-expected loss for the fourth quarter of 2020. 
At the bottom of the European blue chip index, Finnish telecoms firm Nokia fell 13.3%. It comes after the firm was pulled into the frenzied market activity, with its U.S.-listed shares spiking as much as 40% in Wednesday’s session. 
Source: CNBC