The DAX index in Germany was 0.3% higher, the CAC 40 in France added 0.3%, while the FTSE 100 in the U.K. shed 0.1%
European stock markets largely rose on Thursday, as investors digested the minutes from the latest Fed minutes, earnings from AI firm Nvidia and eurozone economic activity data.
At 07:20 GMT, the DAX index in Germany was 0.3% higher, the CAC 40 in France added 0.3%, while the FTSE 100 in the U.K. shed 0.1%.
The minutes of the Fed’s latest policy meeting, released late Wednesday, showed officials at the U.S. central bank remained concerned about the country’s inflation.
While the Fed’s minutes pointed to the central bank keeping rates high for longer, they had been preceded by a series of speeches from Federal Reserve officials suggesting sticky inflation was likely to delay any potential rate cuts.
In Europe, the European Central Bank (ECB) is widely expected to reduce interest rates in June, but there remains uncertainty over how many more cuts the central bank will authorise this year.
Elsewhere, the U.K. market is also in the spotlight after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced late Wednesday that a general election will be held on July 4.
In corporate news, Nvidia reported strong first-quarter earnings, and the chipmaker also offered robust revenue guidance for the present quarter.
The company also announced a 10-for-one stock split, and said it was raising its quarterly dividend by 150% to 1 cent per share, on a post-split basis.
Hargreaves Lansdown stock surged 12% after the fund manager rejected an offer from a consortium led by private equity giant CVC.
Wizz Air stock gained nearly 5% after the budget airline said that it returned to profit in the year to the end of March amid “sustained” demand.
