Skyscrapers in the La Defense business and financial district on Monday, June 3, 2024 in Paris, France.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images
LONDON — European stocks rose on Friday, closing higher as investors assessed the latest U.S. inflation data.
The region’s Stoxx 600 index provisionally closed up 0.97%, its third consecutive trading day of gains and its highest close since June 12.
European Market
| Ticker | company | price | change | %change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| .FTSE | FTSE 100 | 8,252.91 | +29.57 | +0.36% |
| .GDAXI | Dachshund | 18,748.18 | +213.62 | +1.15% |
| .FCHI | CAC 40 Index | 7,724.32 | +97.19 | +1.27% |
| .FTMIB | FTSE MIB | 34,580.52 | +262.41 | +0.76% |
| .IBEX | IBEX 35 Index | 11,250.60 | +80.60 | +0.72% |
After the reaction to the historic French and UK elections earlier this week, attention has now shifted to a new round of inflation data.
On Friday, the U.S. producer price index rose 2.6% year-on-year and 0.2% month-on-month, with the month-on-month change slightly better than expected.
But economists tend to place more emphasis on the consumer price index, which was released on Thursday and came in at 3% year-on-year in June, a larger-than-expected drop from 3.3% in May.
Combined with “somewhat dovish” comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell earlier this week, rising inflation has financial markets pricing in a 90% or higher chance that the world’s largest central bank will cut interest rates in September and one more time by the end of the year.
“The evidence increasingly supports the 8 [Fed] “Officials who had planned two rate cuts this year are now anticipating no rate cuts compared to 11, or one or none,” BNP Paribas economists said in a Friday note.
Meanwhile, second-quarter earnings season is in full swing, with Norwegian Air also reporting better-than-expected profits for the quarter, according to Reuters, alongside Ericsson’s results.
In the United States, several major financial services companies reported financial results before trading began, with JPMorgan beating expectations and Wells Fargo missing them.
U.S. stocks rose on Friday after the S&P 500 posted its worst drop since April on Thursday.
In the Asia-Pacific region, markets ended mixed, with the biggest mover being Japan, where the Nikkei average fell 2.3% from its all-time high.
