Tech leads market rally, ECB sees “solid” growth

Markets rose on Thursday.

The S&P 500 rose 1.0 percent, the STOXX Europe 600 rose 0.9 percent and the Nikkei 225 rose 0.5 percent.

Tech stocks led the market rally in the US on Thursday, with the S&P 500 tech sector surging 2.3 percent.

“While I’m not comfortable with market valuations overall, tech still looks relatively inexpensive,” said Paul Nolte, portfolio manager at Kingsview Asset Management.

The ECB left interest rates unchanged at its monetary policy meeting on Thursday.

ECB president Mario Draghi told a news conference after the meeting that “growth is expected to remain solid and broad-based”.

Indeed, Richard Bernstein, CEO of Richard Bernstein Advisors, told CNBC that investors should position themselves for rising inflation.

However, Bernstein did not see a reason to be bearish yet.

“We're not at the point where the number of bad things overwhelms the number of good things” he said. “For now, I think it'll pay to stay bullish.”