European stocks on Wednesday charged to their highest close this year, fortified by expectations that an increase in U.S. government spending will benefit European companies. As well, investors anticipated that the Federal Reserve will consider the world's largest economy strong enough to withstand another interest-rate increase.

U.S. stock-market indexes closed at a new round of records Wednesday as investors welcomed President Donald Trump's conciliatory tone during his address to a joint session of Congress, despite a lack of details on his economic plans.

Investors piled into risky investments on Thursday, pushing global stocks to multimonth highs as markets digested speeches from U.S. Federal Reserve officials and President Donald Trump's address to Congress. Regional stock indexes tracked strong overnight gains in the U.S. and Europe with a renewed sense of global optimism, after a lukewarm reaction to Trump's speech on Wednesday.