European Shares Seen Higher With US-China Talks In Focus

(RTTNews) - European shares may open on a firm note on Thursday as Cisco Systems reported record fiscal third-quarter results for fiscal 2026 and investors pinned hopes on U.S.-China talks yielding positive results on the Iran war.

Cisco shares gained nearly 19 percent in extended trading after the company beat Wall Street estimates, raised FY26 AI orders and revenue outlook, and announced plans to eliminate close to 4,000 jobs, positioning the company as "critical infrastructure for the AI era".

Meanwhile, Chinese President Xi Jinping stressed partnership over rivalry in a meeting with his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump, setting a positive tone for the first visit by a sitting U.S. President to Beijing in nearly a decade.

Trump called Xi a "great leader" and said China and the U.S. will have a "fantastic future."

Trump's three-day state visit to China focusses on a broad range of issues, including trade, tariffs, artificial intelligence, Iran war, Taiwan, rare earths, and supply chains. It remains to be seen if the U.S. will call on China to help with the ongoing conflict in Iran.

Asian markets traded mixed, with South Korea's Kospi average and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index gaining, after a rebound in U.S. tech shares pushed Wall Street to a record high overnight.

Gold edged up slightly to hover above $4,700 an ounce as the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield inched down slightly after climbing to a one-year high on Wednesday.

The dollar was firmer after Boston Federal Reserve President Susan Collins said the Fed may need to raise interest rates to curb inflation.

Brent crude futures steadied above $106 a barrel after the International Energy Agency warned that global oil inventories are falling at a record pace and will continue to drop for months as a result of disruption to Middle East supplies.

Overnight, U.S. stocks ended mostly higher as chip makers bounced back on AI trade optimism and the U.S. Senate confirmed Kevin Wash as chair of the Federal Reserve for a four-year term.

Investors shrugged off data that showed producer prices posted their biggest increase in four years in April. Wholesale inflation jumped 1.4 percent in April and rose 6 percent year-on-year.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rallied 1.2 percent and the S&P 500 advanced 0.6 percent to reach new record closing highs while the narrower Dow slipped 0.1 percent.

European stocks closed higher on Wednesday after Nvidia CEO Jensen Hauang joined U.S. President Trump's high-stakes visit to China, helping improve prospects for Nvidia's AI chip sales in China.

The pan-European STOXX 600 gained 0.8 percent. The German DAX climbed 0.8 percent, France's CAC 40 edged up by 0.4 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 added 0.6 percent.