Europe shares close higher after U.S. data flurry

LONDON, Nov 25 - European stocks closed higher on Wednesday, with pharmaceuticals among the best performers, after a choppy day's trading as investors digested a raft of U.S. macro-economic data ahead of the Thanksgiving Day holiday.

The FTSEurofirst 300 <.FTEU3> index of top European shares rose 0.5 percent to a provisional close at 1,022.04 points, having gone as high as 1,026.85 and as low as 1,015.76.

Among drugmakers, GlaxoSmithKline <GSK.L>, Novartis <NOVN.VX>, AstraZeneca <AZN.L>, Roche <ROG.VX> and Sanofi-Aventis <SASY.PA> rose between 0.9 and 2.7 percent.

The European benchmark is up more than 58 percent from its lifetime low of March 9, as investors have become more confident on the prospects for economic recovery.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits in the United States slid to a seasonally adjusted 466,000 in the week ended Nov. 21, from a revised 501,000 in the prior week, the Labor Department said. [ID:nN25548443]

Figures also showed that U.S. October personal spending rose more than expected in October and personal income was up 0.2 percent against a forecast of 0.1 percent. But new orders for long-lasting U.S. manufactured goods fell unexpectedly in October. [ID:nN25346193]

"The market is facing a barrage of data, and we still believe there will be further improvement in economic activity, though it has been more mixed lately," said Gerhard Schwarz, head of global equity strategy at UniCredit, in Munich.

Other data, notably that showing higher home sales in October and stronger readings from the Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers, were supportive of the market. [ID:nN25342326] [ID:nN11344865] ((brian.gorman@thomsonreuters.com; +44 20 7542 9128; Reuters Messaging: brian.gorman.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))