European Stocks Close Mostly Higher

(RTTNews) - European stocks closed mostly higher on Wednesday as investors focused on corporate earnings news and looked ahead to policy announcements from the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank.

The Fed is widely expected to hold rates. The focus is on the bank's accompanying statement for clues about growth outlook, and future interest rate moves.

The ECB is expected to lower interest rate tomorrow.

The pan European Stoxx 600 climbed 0.5%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 0.28% and Germany's DAX jumped 0.97%, while France's CAC 40 ended down 0.32%. Switzerland's SMI climbed 0.6%.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Finland, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Spain and Sweden closed higher.

Denmark, Iceland, Ireland and Turkiye ended weak, while Belgium, Greece and Poland closed flat.

In the UK market, JD Sports Fashion gained 4.7%. Admiral Group, Beazley, Fresnillo, Barclays Group, Natwest Group, Halma, IAG, Centrica, Prudential, Standard Chartered, Antofagasta and United Utilities climbed 2 to 4%.

BAE Systems closed down 4.4%. Diageo ended 2.75% down, weighed down by weak results from French luxury major LVMH. Glencore closed lower by 2.7%.

St. James's Place, LondonMetric Property, Taylor Wimpey, Convatec Group and Persimmon lost 1 to 2%.

In the German market, Daimler Truck Holding rallied nearly 8%. Deutsche Telekom and Siemens Energy gained about 4.4% and 4%, respectively.

Covestro, Fresenius Medical Care, Deutsche Bank, SAP, Siemens, Rheinmetall, Commerzbank, Adidas and RWE climbed 1 to 2%.

Qiagen closed lower by about 5.7%. Continental, Puma, Infineon, Deutsche Post and MTU Aero Engines lost 1 to 3%.

In the French market, Schneider Electric rallied more than 4.5%, rebounding after recording sharp losses in the previous two sessions. Legrand closed higher by about 3.5%.

Vivendi, Essilor, Capgemini, Hermes International, STMicroElectronics and Societe Generale posted sharp to moderate gains.

LVMH ended down 5%. LVMH reported that its 2024 net profit was 12.550 billion euros, down 17% from 15.174 billion euros last year. Profit from recurring operations was 19.571 billion euros, a drop of 14%.

For 2024, revenue was 84.683 billion euros, down 2% from 86.153 billion euros. Organic growth for the year was 1%.

The company said it reported organic growth despite a challenging economic and geopolitical environment and a high basis of comparison following several years of exceptional post-Covid growth.

Kering lost about 6%. L'Oreal and Pernod Ricard lost 2.8% and 2.5%, respectively. Teleperformance, Eurofins Scientific, Thales, Vinci and Michelin ended lower by 1 to 1.5%.

A report from the GfK Institute said the Consumer Climate Indicator for Germany declined to -22.4 heading into February 2025 from a marginally revised -21.3 in the previous period.

"The consumer climate has suffered another setback," said Rolf Bürkl, a consumer expert at NIM, adding that a sustainable recovery remains out of reach, particularly with inflation on the rise again.