• The euro zone economy contracted by 0.7% in the final quarter of 2020.
• The benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury yield pulled back from 1.6% to hover at around 1.53%.
• Earnings on Tuesday came from Leonardo, Deutsche Post, Continental, Standard Life Aberdeen, ITV and IWG.

LONDON — European stocks closed higher on Tuesday as traders monitored U.S. bond yields and new earnings releases.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 gained 0.8% during the session, with utilities climbing 2% and retail up 2.5%.

Stocks built on Monday's rally, fueled in part by the Senate's passing of a $1.9 trillion economic relief and stimulus bill on Saturday, which is set to include another round of stimulus checks. President Joe Biden is expected to sign it before key unemployment programs expire on Sunday.

On Wall Street Tuesday, stocks jumped after bond yields declined, causing investors to buy the dip in beaten-up technology shares. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite climbed 3.5%.

Back in Europe, the euro zone economy contracted by 0.7% in the final quarter of 2020, the European statistics agency said Tuesday, revising down its previous flash estimate for a 0.6% quarterly contraction.

Earnings in focus

In Europe Tuesday, earnings came from Leonardo, Deutsche Post, Continental, Standard Life Aberdeen, ITV and Domino's Pizza Group.

British investment manager M&G added 4.7% after stronger-than-expected earnings. Leonardo's full-year results pushed its shares 2.8% higher and Deutsche Post gained 3%.

At the top of the Stoxx 600, Swedish cloud computing company Sinch jumped 9.8%, while Danish jeweler Pandora climbed 7.2% after reporting a rise in year-on-year organic growth in February.

Continental, Standard Life Aberdeen and IWG slid 8%, 7.1% and 4.4% respectively following their results, while Dutch coffee and tea group JDE Peet's fell 8% after lowering its forecasts.

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