European Markets Close Higher As Investors React To Results

(RTTNews) - European stocks closed higher on Thursday as investors reacted to a slew of corporate earnings announcements and digested the monetary policy moves of the European Central Bank and the Federal Reserve.

The ECB left its key interest rates unchanged on Thursday, as expected, after raising them in September, and the chief Christine Lagarde revealed her decision to step down next year, as policymakers wait for the effect of the past moves amid surging inflationary pressures and study the impact of the turmoil in French bond yields.

The Governing Council, led by ECB President Lagarde, held the deposit rate steady at 2.5%, the main refinancing rate at 2.65%, and the marginal lending rate at 2.9%.

On Wednesday, the Fed left its interest rate unchanged, as widely expected. The Fed's accompanying statement acknowledged inflation remains elevated but said the accumulation of more information will help determine the policy stance appropriate to ensure a timely return of inflation to the 2 percent goal. The Fed declared it "will deliver price stability."

The pan European Stoxx 600 gained 0.61%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 climbed 0.47%, Germany's DAX closed with a gain of 0.92% and France's CAC 40 gained 1.05%, while Switzerland's SMI closed higher by 1.21%.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Sweden and Türkiye closed higher.

Ireland, Russia and Spain ended weak.

In the UK market, BAE Systems, LSEG, 3i, Airtel Africa, AstraZeneca, ICG, Polar Capital Holdings, SSE, Melrose Industries and IAG gained 2%-3.1%.

Standard Chartered gained a little over 2%. Advertising Group WPP moved up after logging a year-on-year increase in revenue for the third quarter and confirming its FY26 outlook.

Shell moved up sharply. The British oil and gas giant hiked its quarterly share buyback to $5 billion after nearly doubling its quarterly year-year adjusted earnings and reported record refining margins.

National Grid, Babcock International, British Land Company, Anglo American Plc, Rolls-Royce Holdings, Aviva, Smiths Group, Lion Finance, Reckitt Benckiser and Admiral Group also moved up sharply.

Haleon tanked nearly 16% after the company trimmed its annual revenue outlook. For full-year 2026, Haleon now expects organic revenue growth of around 2.5%, down from its previous forecast of 3% to 5%.

Lloyds Banking Group drifted down 5.4% despite reporting a notable jump in third-quarter earnings.

St. James's Place, Rio Tinto, Diageo, Natwest Group, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, Fresnillo, Endeavour Mining, GSK, Associated British Foods and Coca-Cola HBC lost 1%-3.5%.

Glencore shed about 1% after maintaining its full-year 2026 production guidance.

In the German market, Adidas jumped nearly 6% after achieving record results in the third quarter of 2026 and increasing its full-year profit outlook. The company's earnings totaled EUR706 million, or EUR4.08 per share in the third quarter. This compares with EUR461 million, or EUR2.58 per share, last year.

Rheinmetall, Deutsche Bank, Bayer, Merck, Heidelberg Materials, Zalando, Mercedes-Benz, Symrise and Siemens Energy gained 2.3%-4.1%.

Henkel moved modestly higher. The chemicals company raised its group organic sales growth guidance for full-year 2026 after third-quarter results exceeded analyst expectations.

Deutsche Telekom, Fresenius Medical Care, Volkswagen, Porsche Automobil Holding, Infineon, Commerzbank, Hochtief, Deutsche Post, Siemens, Continental and Fresenius also posted notable gains.

Vonovia ended down 3.2%. The real estate group lowered its 2028 targets. For fiscal 2026, the company now expects adjusted shareholder earnings to remain in the upper half of the previous outlook range of EUR 1.4 billion to EUR 1.5 billion.

In the French market, Renault rallied 7.5% on reporting a better-than-expected 1.4% rise in third-quarter revenue at €11.596 billion. Looking ahead, for fiscal 2026, Renault continues to expect operating margin around 5.5% of the Group revenue.

Dassault Systems jumped 6.5%. Safran, Airbus, ArcelorMittal, Thales, STMicroelectronics, Danone, Saint-Gobain, Legrand, Accor, Air Liquide, Orange, Societe Generale, Eurofins Scientific and Publicis Groupe gained 1%-3.5%.

Total Energies gained about 1.3%. The company's third-quarter bottom line came in at $8.263 billion, or $3.66 per share, compared with $3.683 billion, or $1.64 per share, last year.

Edenred dropped 1.7%. Pernod Ricard drifted lower by 1.6%, while Stellantis and Carrefour both ended down by about 1%.

Data released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders Limited (SMMT) showed car production in the UK surged by 38.6% year-on-year to 70,831 units in September, marking the strongest September output since 2023 and accelerating from a 6.1% rise in August.

A report from the Bank of England showed net borrowing of consumer credit by UK individuals fell to £1.9 billion in September, down from an upwardly revised £2.7 billion in August and below market expectations of £2.2 billion.