European Stocks Close Higher As U.S. Inflation Data Helps Ease Rate Concerns

(RTTNews) - European stocks closed higher on Thursday as soft U.S. inflation data helped outweigh concerns about interest rates. Optimism about economic growth following China reopening contributed as well to markets' positive performance.

Data released by the Labor Department showed U.S. consumer price index edged down by 0.1% in December after inching up by 0.1% in November. Economists had expected consumer prices to come in unchanged.

The report also showed the annual rate of consumer price growth slowed to 6.5% in December from 7.1% in November, in line with expectations. The annual growth was the slowest since October 2021.

The annual rate of core price growth slowed to 5.7% in December from 6% in November. The year-over-year growth was also in line with expectations.

The pan European Stoxx 600 ended 0.74% up. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 climbed 1.07%, Germany's DAX surged 0.86%, France's CAC 40 gained 0.91% and Switzerland's SMI gained 0.37%.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Turkiye closed with sharp to moderate gains.

Iceland ended weak, while Greece and Russia settled flat.

In European economic news, euro area consumers' inflation expectations eased in January, warranting slower pace of tightening from the European Central Bank.

Consumer price inflation prediction for one-year ahead slowed to 5.0 percent from 5.4 percent, and that for three years ahead eased marginally to 2.9 percent from 3.0 percent, the latest Consumer Expectations Survey from the ECB showed.

In the UK market, Persimmon rallied 8.33% despite warning of a slowdown in housing demand.

Barratt Developments, M&G, JD Sports Fashion, Whitbread, Berkeley Group Holdings, Taylor Wimpey, St. Jame's Place, IAG, Segro, Next and Fresnillo gained 3 to 7%.

Centrica gained more than 3% after raising its profit forecast. Vodafone Group shares gained after the company announced the appointment of Aldo Bisio as the Group Chief Commercial Officer, effective January 12, in addition to his current role as CEO of Vodafone Italy.

B&M European Value Retail dropped 4.4%. Sage Group, Beazley, AstraZeneca, SSE, Halma, Experian, 3I Group and Smith & Nephew shed 1 to 2%.

In Paris, Teleperformance and Unibail Rodamco both climbed more than 4%. Capgemini, Societe Generale, WorldLine, Eurofins Scientific, ArcelorMittal, Safran and Airbus Group gained 2 to 3.4%.

BNP Paribas, Kering, Saint Gobain, AXA, Bouygues, Renault, Michelin and Publicis Group also ended sharply higher.

In the German market, HelloFresh surged more than 5.5%. RWE gained nearly 4%. Zalando, Continental, BASF, E.ON, Infineon Technologies, Adidas, MTU Aero Engines, BMW, Siemens, Deutsche Telekom, Bayer and Deutsche Post advanced 1 to 3%.

Symrise dropped nearly 3%. Covestro, Merck and Puma also ended notably lower.

In the Swiss market, shares of software and computer peripherals manufacturer Logitech plunged nearly 17% after the company cut its sales outlook.