European Shares Rally As Investors Look To Fed, BoE Meetings

(RTTNews) - European stocks were sharply higher on Tuesday as markets held out hopes for a slowdown in some central banks' rate hikes.

The U.S. dollar edged lower and Eurozone yields fell as focus shifted to a two-day policy meeting of the Federal Reserve that gets underway later today.

It is widely believed that Fed might signal a slowdown of its tightening path after delivering a 75-bps rate hike on Wednesday.

Doubts remain, however, about whether the Fed will soften hits hawkish stance amid many risks surrounding the inflation outlook.

The Bank of England is scheduled to announce its policy decision on Thursday, with economists expecting a 75-bps rate hike.

The pan European STOXX 600 rallied 1.2 percent to 417.20 after gaining 0.4 percent in the previous session.

The German DAX surged 1 percent, France's CAC 40 index added 1.6 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was up 1.4 percent.

Credit Suisse gained nearly 2 percent after the Swiss lender confirmed an extraordinary general meeting will take place on November 23 to approve a proposed capital increase.

Miners Anglo American, Antofagasta and Glencore surged 3-5 percent in London after reports emerged that China is looking at ways to exit its zero-COVID policy.

Oil & gas giant BP Plc fell about 1 percent despite posting bumper profits.

Peer Shell and TotalEnergies both gained around 1.6 percent, tracking higher oil prices after OPEC raised its forecasts for world oil demand in the medium- and longer-term in an annual outlook released on Monday.

Shares of online grocery store Ocado soared 33 percent after the company partnered with South Korean retail company Lotte Shopping.

Westminster Group plunged 25 percent after the supplier of managed services and technology-based security solutions said that fiscal 2022 revenue outturn will be approximately a third below market expectations.

Alcoholic beverage firm Diageo added 1.5 percent after announcing it is starting the final phase of its share buyback.