Stocks resume rally in US but fall in Europe on monetary tightening concerns

US stocks resumed their rally on Thursday.

The S&P 500 rose 0.7 percent to close at a record high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq Composite both rose 0.8 percent to also close at record highs.

However, elsewhere, the STOXX Europe 600 fell 0.3 percent and the Nikkei 225 fell 0.3 percent.

While US investors shrugged off weaker-than-expected jobless claims and wholesale inflation data on Thursday, European investors had to contend with the possibility of an earlier-than expected tightening of monetary policy by the European Central Bank after the latter released its minutes from its December meeting.

“The language pertaining to various dimensions of the monetary policy stance and forward guidance could be revisited early in the coming year,” the minutes reported.