European Markets Close On Firm Note On Strong Earnings

European markets closed higher on Thursday, as dovish comments by Federal Reserve on interest rates and a slew of upbeat earnings updates lifted sentiment.

On Wednesday, the Fed noted progress has been made towards the central bank’s maximum employment and price stability goals, although Fed Chair Jerome Powell noted there is still “some ground to cover on the labor market side.”

The pan European Stoxx 600 ended 0.46% up. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 climbed 0.88%, Germany’s DAX gained 0.45% and France’s CAC moved up 0.37%, while Switzerland’s SMI edged up 0.11%.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Czech Republic, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Turkey closed higher, while Belgium and Denmark ended weak.

In the UK market, Rentokil Initial surged up 6.8%. Informa gained 5.7%. Anglo American climbed 5.4% after reporting record half-year profit.

Shares of oil major Royal Dutch Shell rallied nearly 4% after the company raised its dividend and unveiled plans to buy back $2 billion of shares this year after reporting a jump in quarterly earnings.

Compass Group, Relx, Rio Tinto, Prudential, Antofagasta, BAE Systems, BHP Group and Barclays Group also ended sharply higher. Spirits maker Diageo ended modestly higher after it reported a better-than-expected rise in full-year organic net sales growth.

BT Group tumbled more than 6% after the company’s first-quarter revenues fell short of expectations. Smith & Nephew ended sharply lower despite reporting a profit in the latest quarter.

Weir Group, Royal Mail, ITV, Smurfit Kappa Group, B&M and Johnson Matthey lost 2 to 6%.

In the French market, Danone moved up more than 6.5%, STMicroElectronics gained about 5.4% and Atos climbed nearly 5%.

ArcelorMittal gained about 4% after the company boosted its guidance for global steel demand after delivering its best quarter since 2008.

Veolia, Carrefour, Capgemini, Faurecia and Valeo gained 2 to 4%. Airbus pared early gains and finished modestly up. The plane maker has raised upward its guidance for profit and aircraft deliveries.

Orange ended lower by nearly 4% after announcing a 3.7 billion-euro impairment on the value of its Spanish activities.

Safran, Air Liquide, Unibail Rodamco and Sanofi also ended sharply lower. Accor ended notably lower after reporting an operating loss for the first half of tye year.

In the German market, Daimler, Deutsche Bank and Infineon Technologies gained 2.5 to 3%. Volkswagen, Thyssenkrupp, BMW and Bayer also closed with strong gains.

In the Swiss market, Credit Suisse shares declined sharply after reporting a 78% drop in second-quarter net profit.

In economic news, eurozone economic confidence hit a record high in July driven by rising sentiment in the industrial and service sectors, survey results from the European Commission showed.

The economic confidence index rose to 119.0 from 117.9 in June. This was the highest since records began in 1985 and also well above economists’ forecast of 118.5.

However, compared to the previous months, the latest improvement was much weaker, suggesting that the indicator is approaching its peak, the EU said.

Germany’s unemployment declined more than expected in July, reports said citing data published by the Federal Labor Agency. The unemployment rate fell to 5.7% in July from about 5.9% in June. The rate was forecast to fall marginally to 5.8%.

Germany’s inflation accelerated more-than-expected in July, particularly due to the base effect, flash data from Destatis revealed. Consumer price inflation accelerated to 3.8% in July from 2.3% in June. The rate was above economists’ forecast of 3.3%.

France’s producer prices rose at a faster pace in June, with the producer price index climbing 7.1% year-on-year, following a 6.7% increase in May, data from INSEE showed. Compared to the previous month, prices rose 1% in June after a 0.4% gain in May.

In the U.K., car output increased in 22.1% to 69,097 units in June, but the total was the worst for the month of June since 1953 as the global chip shortage continued to take a toll on production, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, or SMMT, said Thursday.