European stock futures are up all thanks to heightened optimism on the spread of the covid vaccine.

European stock markets opened higher today, boosted by the optimism of an economic recovery as the EU's vaccination program increases in pace following its statement to fast track approvals of the coronavirus vaccines.

At 07:05 am GMT, the DAX futures contract in Germany traded 0.1% higher, France's CAC 40 futures climbed 0.7%, and the U.K's FTSE 100 futures contract rose 0.6%.

The U.K. announced on Sunday that 15 million had received their first dose of the vaccine, raising hopes of a relatively prompt relaxation of the strict lockdown measures.

Also aiding this rally was Japan's pretty impressive gross domestic product data which showed that Japan grew faster than expected in the fourth quarter. This prompted a rise in Nikkei index to a level not seen since August 1990.