European stocks closed on a strong note on Thursday with investors cheering the Federal Reserve’s decision to cut interest rates by 50 basis points and its forecast for more reductions in future.
Investors also digested the Bank of England’s widely anticipated move to hold interest rates unchanged. The BoE signaled a gradual approach to monetary easing in coming decisions. The central bank also extended its bond reduction plan for another one year.
BoE’s Monetary Policy Committee headed by Andrew Bailey voted by a majority of 8-1 to hold the Bank Rate at 5%. At the August meeting, the MPC had voted in a tight 5-4 vote to cut the rate by a quarter point from a 16-year high of 5.25%.
Today, the MPC unanimously voted to reduce the stock of UK government bond purchases by GBP 100 billion over the next twelve months, to a total of GBP 558 billion.
Shares of energy firms and miners moved higher on strong commodity prices. Automakers shares moved higher despite Europe’s new car registrations posting a steep decline in August.
The pan European Stoxx 600 closed with a gain of 1.38%. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 gained 0.91%, Germany’s DAX climbed 1.55% and France’s CAC 40 ended up 2.29%, while Switzerland’s SMI gained 0.63%.
Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Turkiye closed with sharp to moderate gains.
Portugal ended weak, while Poland closed flat.
In the UK market, Rolls-Royce Holdings rallied nearly 6%. Fresnillo, Antofagasta, Ashtead Group, JD Sports Fashion and Spirax Group gained 4 to 4.6%.
Weir Group, Anglo American Plc, IMI, Pershing Square Holdings, Easyjet, Rio Tinto, Burberry Group, Prudential, Scottish Mortgage, Halma, Diageo, 3i Group, Sage Group and Hikma Pharmaceuticals gained 2.5 to 4%.
Melrose Industries, Natwest Group, BP, HSBC Holdings, Entain, Smiths Group, RightMove and Frasers Group also ended sharply higher.
Next moved higher after raising its annual profit forecast. Online grocer Ocado soared 2.7% after upgrading its revenue guidance.
In the German market, HeidelbergCement climbed nearly 4.5%. Bayer, Adidas, Beiersdorf, SAP, BASF, Siemens Energy, Daimler Truck Holding, Brenntag, Siemens, Mercedes-Benz, Rheinmetall, MTU Aero Engines, Infineon, BMW and Zalando gained 2 to 4%.
RWE, E.ON, Vonovia and Deutsche Telekom declined sharply. Fresenius and Commerzbank also ended notably lower.
In the French market, Saint-Gobain, Hermes International, Eurofins Scientific, Safran and Schneider Electric gained 4 to 4.5%.
ArcelorMittal, Airbus Group, L’Oreal, Pernod Ricard, STMicroElectronics, Dassault Systemes, Edenred, LVMH, Publicis Groupe, Accor, Kering, TotalEnergies, Thales and Legrand also moved up sharply.
Stellantis climbed higher after refuting claims made by the United Auto Workers, including allegations that it planned to relocate production of the Dodge Durango out of the US.
Engie and Unibail Rodamco both ended lower by more than 2%. Orange and Bouygues also closed notably lower.
In European economic news, the euro area current account surplus declined in July due to the fall in primary income, the European Central Bank said on Thursday.
The current account posted a surplus of EUR 40 billion compared to June’s EUR 51 billion surplus.
The surplus on goods trade fell to EUR 35 billion from EUR 39 billion. Meanwhile, the surplus on services increased to EUR 19 billion from EUR 12 billion.
New car sales decreased 18.3% on a yearly basis with negative results across all four major markets, largely due to the notable decrease in electric car sales, according to data from the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association.
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