European stocks were climbing on Thursday as the expectation that the European Central Bank will cut interest rates later helped investors shrug off below-par economic data.
The ECB appears all-but-certain to lower borrowing costs when it announces its latest decision at 8.15 a.m. Eastern Time. While inflation is still running above policymakers’ 2% target, growth looks weak: Flash figures published on Thursday showed the euro zone economy didn’t grow at all over the final quarter of 2024.
Indexes across the Atlantic were rising ahead of the ECB policy decision. Europe’s flagship Stoxx 600 gauge climbed 0.6% in morning trading, and London’s FTSE 100, Paris’s CAC 40 and Frankfurt’s Dax were also all trading in the green.
