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* UK's Experian jumps on upbeat FY revenue forecast

* InPost up after Q1 core profit jumps 36% and beats forecast

* Commerzbank rises on strongest quarterly profit in decade

* Thyssenkrupp cuts forecasts as market remains 'gloomy'

* ABN Amro slides as weaker capital overshadows profit beat

May 15 (Reuters) - Europe's benchmark index climbed to a record high on Wednesday, as investors cheered a handful of robust earnings from the likes of UK's Experian and Germany's Commerzbank, while they also buckled up for the highly anticipated U.S. inflation data.

The pan-European STOXX 600 was up 0.3%, as of 0820 GMT, after closing at a record high on Tuesday.

Upbeat corporate earnings have offered a fresh boost to European shares, helping them regain their lost ground this month and catch up with their U.S. peers. The STOXX 600 is up over 9% year-to-date, almost in line with the near 10% jump seen in the benchmark U.S. S&P 500 index.

Focus is now on the U.S. consumer prices inflation data, a day after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell noted his confidence in easing inflation after a hotter-than-expected producer prices reading in April.

"The (CPI) data's not going to be the primary thing that matters for the ECB, but it will be viewing it in the global context to understand how their cuts, that they likely have to put in place, will be on a relative basis versus the Fed," said Patrick Armstrong, chief investment officer at Plurimi Wealth.

European Central Bank policymakers have highlighted a monetary policy divergence from the Fed while sounding cautious of rate cuts beyond a first one in June.

On the earnings front, credit data firm Experian jumped 7.8% after an upbeat annual organic revenue growth forecast and Poland's InPost advanced 9.4% following its higher first-quarter core earnings. Both companies were the top gainers in the industrial goods and services index.

Boosting the healthcare index, Merck KGaA rose 4.3% after better-than-expected adjusted earnings.

Germany's Commerzbank climbed 4.3% after the lender reported its strongest quarterly profit in a decade, beating expectations.

Finland's Neste slumped 11.8% to the bottom of the STOXX 600 after the biofuels producer and oil refiner lowered its 2024 margin outlook for renewable products.

German conglomerate Thyssenkrupp dropped 5.8% after cutting its annual forecasts for sales and net profit for the second time in three months.

Dutch bank ABN Amro shed 5% after a weaker first-quarter capital ratio overshadowed a better-than-forecast net profit.

Of the STOXX 600 companies that have reported first-quarter earnings to date, 60.7% beat estimates, versus the typical quarterly 54% beat rate, LSEG data showed on Tuesday.

Among others, HelloFresh lost 6.6% after J.P.Morgan downgraded the German meal-kit firm to "neutral" from "overweight", while Carrefour shed 3.8% after J.P.Morgan downgraded the French supermarket to "underweight" from "neutral". (Reporting by Ankika Biswas in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Eileen Soreng)