European stocks broke their longest losing run in a year on Thursday, with major regional indexes rebounding after well-received corporate updates. Investors also cheered a rise in shares of car makers after the release of encouraging EU sales figures.

U.S. stocks closed higher Thursday, with earnings-inspired gains by Cisco and Wal-Mart helping to set the pace, while House passage of a Republican-sponsored tax cut plan helped cement the rally.

The global stock rebound continued Friday in Asia, with equities working to erase declines from earlier in the week. Japan again led the way. The Nikkei NIK, +0.24% jumped 1.5%, putting it into positive territory for the week. It hasn't had a down week since early September and if it does notch a 10th straight weekly advance today, that would be the longest winning streak since January 2013.