European Stocks Close Mostly Higher As Investors Await Fed Policy Announcement

(RTTNews) - European stocks closed slightly higher on Wednesday with investors largely making cautious moves, looking ahead to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement due later in the day, and for more details about a U.S.-Iran peace deal that is expected to be signed in Switzerland on Friday.

The Bank of England and the Swiss National Bank are scheduled to make their monetary policy announcements on Thursday.

While the Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, the accompanying statement and new Chair Kevin Warsh's post-meeting comments could impact the outlook for rates.

The pan European Stoxx 600 climbed 0.52%. The UK's FTSE 100 and Germany's DAX edged up 0.14% and 0.1%, respectively, while France's CAC 40 drifted down 0.2%. Switzerland's SMI gained 0.39%.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Sweden ended with sharp to moderate gains.

Czech Republic, Finland, Greece and Ireland posted modest gains.

Iceland, Poland, Russia and Türkiye closed weak, while Norway ended flat.

In the UK market, Endeavour Mining climbed 5%. Persimmon, Barclays, Weir Group, Barratt Redrow, Metlen Energy & Metals and Standard Chartered gained 2%-4%.

HSBC Holdings, Berkeley Group Holdings, Kingfisher, Lloyds Banking Group, Natwest Group, AstraZeneca, Intercontinental Hotels Group, Howden Joinery Group, GSK, Fresnillo, The Sage Group, Legal & General and Melrose Industries moved up 1%-2%.

Entain shed 4.7%. Halma, Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury (J), Burberry Group, British American Tobacco, RightMove, British Land and Compass Group lost 2%-4%. Glencore, Tesco, BP, Centrica and LSEG were among the other notable losers.

In the German market, Commerzbank, Bayer, Heidelberg Materials, Siemens Energy, Deutsche Bank, Zalando and Rheinmetall gained 2%-5.2%.

MTU Aero Engines, Gea Group, Symrise, BASF, Beiersdorf, Henkel, Merck and Fresenius Medical Care also moved notably higher.

BMW tanked more than 8% after the automajor announced that it has trimmed fiscal 2026 outlook, mainly citing negative development in China, impact of conflict in Middle East, and a one-time charge due to intensified and accelerated structural and efficiency measures.

For the full year, the company now projects significant decrease in group profit before tax from the previous year, compared to previous estimate of moderate decrease.

Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen shed about 4.3% and 3.4%, respectively. Porsche Automobil closed nearly 2% down, and Daimler Truck Holding drifted lower by 1.25%.

Infineon, Deutsche Telekom, Siemens Healthineers, Continental, Munich RE, SAP and Vonovia also closed weak.

In the French market, Legrand rallied more than 4.5%. Teleperformance climbed nearly 3%, while Schneider Electric, Credit Agricole, BNP Paribas and Edenred gained 1%-2%.

Thales moved up 1.3%. The defense technology company said it entered into a strategic partnership with Renault Group to develop and industrialize the large-scale production of the TOUTATIS loitering munition.

EssilorLuxottica ended down by 4.8%. Orange, Stellantis, ArcelorMittal, STMicroelectronics, Renault, LVMH, Pernod Ricard, Michelin, TotalEnergies, L'Oreal and Carrefour closed lower by 1%-3.2%.

In economic news, data from the office for National Statistics showed consumer prices in UK registered an annual increase of 2.8% in May, the same rate as seen in April. Prices were expected to climb 3%. On a monthly basis, consumer prices rose 0.2% in May, slower than the 0.7% increase in April.

Meanwhile, core inflation rose to 2.6% from 2.5% in the previous month. Nonetheless, the rate was slightly below forecast of 2.7%.

Factory gate inflation slowed marginally to 4% in May from 4.1% a month ago, the ONS said in a separate report.

On the other hand, input price inflation accelerated to the highest since February 2023. Input prices grew 8.7% after rising 7.9% in April.

On a monthly basis, output prices climbed 0.5%, slower than the 1.5% rise in April. At the same time, input prices gained only 0.2%, following April's 2.6% increase.