This was CNBC’s live blog covering European markets.
European stock markets closed higher Thursday amid a flurry of earnings and economic data and rising hopes of an end to the Russia-Ukraine war.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 index moved higher by 1% while France’s CAC 40 rose by 1.5% and Germany’s Dax index rose 2.1%, the biggest one-day gain in two 2 years. Meanwhile, the U.K.’s FTSE 100 fell by 0.49%.
Markets rose even as investors braced for a new swathe of tariffs to potentially be announced by U.S. President Donald Trump, who posted on social media in the early U.S. hours: “TODAY IS THE BIG ONE: RECIPROCAL TARIFFS!!!”
Those retaliatory duties are expected to hit every country that imposes import duties on the U.S., though exemptions for some sectors are reportedly being considered.
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- Europe must ‘pull back’ on regulation, Siemens CEO says as profits beat expectations | view post
- UK economy ekes out 0.1% growth in fourth quarter | view post
- Barclays posts 2024 pretax profit hike, launches £1 billion share buyback | view post
In European markets, German technology conglomerate Siemens was among the top performers, up more than 7% after reporting better-than-expected first-quarter profits, despite a “significant decline” at its factory automation business.
However, the U.K.’s FTSE 100 dropped 0.5%, weighed down by declines in banking and oil and gas stocks. Shares of British bank Barclays were 4.7% lower, despite the lender posting a slight beat on full-year pre-tax profit and announcing a £1 billion ($1.25 billion) share buyback. Consumer goods giant Unilever was meanwhile down 5.6% on weaker sales growth figures than forecast.
Investors are also assessing figures from the Office for National Statistics which showed the U.K. economy grew by 0.1% in the fourth quarter, ahead of expectations for a 0.1% contraction.
“Fourth-quarter UK GDP wasn’t as bad as it could have been, though the details weren’t great … all of the increase in GDP across 2024 can be put down to population growth. GDP per capita actually fell slightly across the year,” ING developed markets economist, James Smith, said in a note.
The gains for markets also come as an end to the Ukraine-Russia war becomes a more distinct prospect.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he had spoken to both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and that both leaders wanted peace. He said he had ordered U.S. officials to begin talks immediately on ending the war.
Asia-Pacific markets were largely higher on Thursday.
Results were out for gaming giant Sony, which posted an operating profit beat for its key December quarter, while Japanese automakers Honda and Nissan announced they would terminate merger talks that had been slated to create the world’s third-largest auto company by sales volumes.
European stocks rise amid a flurry of earnings and economic data
European stock markets rose Thursday, amid a flurry of earnings and economic data, and rising hopes of an end to the Russia-Ukraine war.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 index moved higher by 1% while France’s CAC 40 rose by 1.5% and Germany’s Dax index rose 2.1%, the biggest one-day gain in two 2 years. Meanwhile, the U.K.’s FTSE 100 fell by 0.49%.
— Ganesh Rao
Stocks open higher after inflation data
The S&P 500 opened 0.3% higher, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped more than 140 points, or 0.3%, shortly after the market open. The Nasdaq Composite gained 0.5%.
— Pia Singh
U.S. wholesale prices rose 0.4% in January
A gauge of wholesale prices rose in January, indicating that pipeline inflation pressures are persisting and likely keeping the Federal Reserve on the sidelines regarding interest rate cuts.
The producer price index, which measures what producers get for their goods and services, increased by a seasonally adjusted 0.4% on the month, compared to the Dow Jones estimate for 0.3%, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Thursday.
Excluding food and energy, core PPI was up 0.3%, in line with the forecast.
The release comes the day after the BLS reported that the consumer price index rose 0.5% on the month, putting the annual inflation rate at 3% and well out of reach of the Fed’s 2% long-run goal.
— Jeff Cox
Unilever CEO sees growth slowing in early 2025
Sterling, euro higher as traders assess growth data and Ukraine peace prospects
The British pound and the euro were both higher against the U.S. dollar at 11:40 a.m. in London as investors parsed tepid growth data from the U.K., and the possibility of an end to the Russia-Ukraine war.
Sterling was 0.35% higher against the greenback at $1.248, while the euro climbed 0.37% to $1.04.
Attention Wednesday was on hot U.S. inflation data and the possibility for limited or even zero Federal Reserve interest rate cuts this year.
Focus has also now turned to whether U.S. President Donald Trump’s team will manage to broker peace talks that lead to a breakthrough in the nearly three-year-old war between Russia and Ukraine.
Meanwhile, U.K. GDP data released Thursday showed 0.1% growth in the fourth quarter rather than the 0.1% decline expected by economists, even as real GDP per capita did fall by 0.1%.
“The news may take some pressure off the Bank of England from delivering aggressive interest rate cuts in the coming months,” Matthew Ryan, head of market strategy at global financial services firm Ebury, said in emailed comments.
However, he added that the economic outlook remained complicated.
“Growth effectively flatlined in the second half of last year, with the average Brit finding themselves worse off in real terms as they feel the pinch from still elevated inflation, high mortgage rates and the largest tax burden on record,” Ryan said.
— Jenni Reid
DSM-Firmenich is a smarter, faster working engine post merger, says CEO
Dimitri De Vreeze, CEO of Dsm-Firmenich, talks about the company’s merger and share buyback program off the back of its full-year earning results.
Europe stocks open higher
European stock markets were higher early Thursday, with the regional Stoxx 600 index up 0.49% at 8:15 a.m. in London.
Germany’s DAX index jumped 1.05% and France’s CAC 40 climbed 0.83%.
However, the U.K.’s FTSE 100 slipped 0.45% as investors weighed economic growth data and banking and energy stocks traded broadly lower.
— Jenni Reid
Barclays posts 2024 pretax profit hike, launches £1 billion share buyback
British bank Barclays on Thursday posted a rise in full-year pre-tax profit that came in just ahead of analyst expectations, while also launching a £1 billion share buyback.
Pretax profit rose by 24% to £8.108 billion in 2024, just above analyst expectations of £8.081 billion, according to LSEG.
— Ruxandra Iordache
UK economy ekes out 0.1% growth in the fourth quarter
The U.K. economy grew by 0.1% in the fourth quarter, beating expectations, according to a preliminary estimate from the U.K.’s Office for National Statistics (ONS) on Thursday.
Economists polled by Reuters had expected the country’s GDP to contract by 0.1% over the period.
The services and construction sectors contributed to the better-than-expected performance in the economy, up 0.2% and 0.5% respectively, but production fell by 0.8%, the ONS said.
Restaurants and pubs on James Street in London, UK, on Friday, Dec. 13, 2024.
The British economy had recorded zero growth in the third quarter and lackluster monthly GDP data since then, with a 0.1% contraction in October and a 0.1% expansion in November.
The British pound was up 0.5% against the dollar after the data release, and flat against the euro.
Sluggish growth and a recent drop in inflation prompted the Bank of England last week to make its first interest rate cut of the year, bringing its benchmark rate down to 4.5%.
— Holly Ellyatt
Europe must ‘pull back’ on regulation, Siemens CEO says as profits beat expectations
Siemens CEO Roland Busch said Thursday that Europe needs to “pull back” its regulatory agenda and instead allow business more scope to innovate.
“We are overregulating in Europe, that is my belief. We should innovate and then regulate. We should pull it back,” he told CNBC’s Steve Sedgwick. “We are not against regulations, but we have to be mindful.”
Busch also said that the German economy required a reset to support businesses and get growth back on track.
“We have to change something. We have to get this German economy back into a growth momentum, we cannot live with the contraction or very, very low growth,” he said.
Technology group Siemens on Thursday reported better than expected first-quarter profits despite a “significant decline” at its factory automation business.
Profit in its industrial business fell 8% year-on-year to 2.52 billion euros ($2.62 billion) in the three months to Dec. 31, ahead of a company compiled forecast of 2.44 billion euros.
— Karen Gilchrist
Commerzbank to cut 3,900 jobs as it unveils new targets
Germany’s second-largest lender Commerzbank on Thursday announced it will eliminate 3,900 full-time positions by 2028, largely in its native Germany, as it unveiled a spate of new strategic targets.
The job cuts will be accompanied by increases in staffing in “selected areas” such as in international locations, resulting in a broadly constant global headcount of 36,700, the bank said in its strategic update.
Revenue in 2024 came in at 11.1 billion euros, compared with 10.461 billion euros in 2023.
— Ruxandra Iordache
Nestle full-year sales growth declines in line with expectations, points to uptick in 2025
Bars of original KitKat chocolate, produced by Nestle SA.
Nestle, the world’s largest packaged food company, on Thursday posted an anticipated decline in full-year sales growth but pointed to an uptick in 2025 assuming “no significant change in key macroeconomic variables.”
Full-year organic sales rose 2.2%, meeting the forecast by LSEG analysts but well below the 7.2% recorded in 2023.
Net profit was 10.9 billion Swiss francs ($11.95 billion), in line with company compiled expectations.
Nestle in October cut its full-year outlook amid weak underlying sales growth, saying it expects 2024 organic sales of around 2% and an underlying trading operating profit margin of about 17%. This latter measure came in at 17.2% in 2024.
“From 2025, we expect our actions to drive an improvement in organic sales growth, with a lower underlying trading operating profit margin in the short term as we invest for growth. While there is macroeconomic uncertainty, we have lots of opportunities ahead of us, and we have the strategy, the resources and the people and team to deliver,” CEO Laurent Freixe said in a statement.
Freixe took the reins in September, replacing Mark Schneider who was ousted after several quarters of weak sales.
— Karen Gilchrist
European markets: Here are the opening calls
European markets are expected to open in higher territory Thursday.
The U.K.’s FTSE 100 index is expected to open 9 points higher at 8,817, Germany’s DAX up 229 points at 22,370, France’s CAC up 80 points at 8,127 and Italy’s FTSE MIB 308 points higher at 37,961, according to data from IG.
Traders will be keeping an eye on earnings from Siemens, Nestle, Swisscom, Pernod Ricard, Orange, Unilever, Legrand, Ferrovial, Barclays, British American Tobacco, Commerzbank, Thyssenkrupp and Moncler.
Data releases will include Germany’s latest inflation rate and U.K. fourth-quarter gross domestic product, with economists expecting the British economy to have contracted 0.1% in the three months to December.
— Holly Ellyatt
