Stoxx 600, FTSE, DAX, CAC

LONDON — European stocks finished in positive territory on Thursday as traders positioned for central bank decisions today.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 was almost 1% higher at the close of the session.

Markets prepared for Europe’s central banks to announce their final interest-rate decisions of the year on Thursday with the European Central Bank, Bank of England, Riksbank and Norges Bank all concluding monetary policy meetings on Thursday.

The ECB kept rates at 2%, while Riksbank and Norges Bank also held steady.

The Bank of England reduced its interest rate from 4% to 3.75%, in a widely-anticipated move which brings the U.K. base rate to its lowest level in almost three years. The yield on the benchmark 10-year U.K. gilt was last seen down almost 1 basis point, at 4.474%, while yields on the two-year bond were last up 2 basis points to 3.734%.

Sterling was flat against the dollar after the announcement, as was the FTSE 100.

Norway’s central bank kept rates on hold at 4% on Thursday, with economists suggesting the next rate cut might not come until summer 2026. 

The bank said Thursday that the outlook is uncertain “but if the economy evolves broadly as currently projected, the policy rate will be reduced further in the course of the coming year.”

For now, however, Norges Bank’s policymakers judged “that a restrictive monetary policy is still needed. Inflation is still too high.” It added that its current forecast “is consistent with 1-2 rate cuts next year.”

There was further momentum behind that yesterday after UK inflation came in below economists’ estimates, Deutsche Bank said in a note issued this morning.

U.K. gilts moved lower yesterday as investors reacted to the news, with yields on the two-year bond hitting its lowest point since August 2024.

On stocks, shares of BP will be watched closely today after the oil giant said it had appointed Woodside boss Meg O’Neill as its next CEO, replacing Murray Auchincloss after less than two years in the role.  BP’s stock closed 1.2% lower.

U.K. hotel chain owner Whitbread, which owns Premier Inn, led the European benchmark at the market close, with a gain of 6.3% after it secured permission to turn a former office building in London into a hotel.

German firm Rational, which manufactures professional cooking equipment, also hit the top end of the index after UBS upgraded it to a buy rating. It raised its target price from 750 euros to 785 euros and noted that Rational’s risk-reward profile has improved thanks to its falling stock price and positive growth outlook. Rational’s share price ended 5.2% higher.

AI-related names ASML and ASMI also advanced, finished 2.1% and 1.9% higher, respectively, despite jitters in the U.S. market. The Financial Times reported that Oracle’s primary investor, Blue Owl Capital, pulled out from funding one of its data center projects.

In the U.S., stocks traded higher following cooler-than-expected inflation data. It marked the first consumer inflation report issued to the public since the U.S. government shutdown ended last month. Economists polled by Dow Jones predict that headline inflation grew at a 3.1% pace on a year-over-year basis.

U.S. stocks were rebounding from a rough trading session Wednesday, pressured by sharp losses in leading semiconductor names tied to the artificial intelligence trade.

Concerns about the high capital costs behind massive data center deals, such as Oracle’s, sent jitters throughout the market and led several chipmakers to fall yesterday with Broadcom losing 4.5%, while shares of Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices also fell.

Wall Street’s tech selloff rippled through Asia-Pacific markets, sending stocks lower overnight.

— CNBC’s Mike Considine and Pia Singh contributed to this market report.