European stocks close slightly higher as investors weigh data; tech jumps 1% after Nvidia earnings – CNBC

European markets closed slightly higher on Thursday as traders digested the minutes of the latest US Federal Reserve meeting and new economic data from the Eurozone.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index provisionally ended up 0.06%, with most sectors and major exchanges in mixed territory.

— April roach

US stocks opened mixed on Thursday, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq jumping 1% on strong results from Nvidia.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.1% in early trading, while the S&P 500 added 0.5%.

—Karen Gilchrist

Growth in business activity in the euro zone reached its highest level in 12 months in May, according to the HCOB and S&P Global Purchasing Managers’ Index.

The figure of 52.3 was slightly higher than the expectations of economists polled by Reuters, which was 52.

“The economic recovery in the euro zone accelerated in May,” the survey indicates. “Faster increases in business activity, new orders and employment were recorded midway through the second quarter, while business confidence rose to its highest level in 27 months.”

Inflation in input and output costs has also eased, the report said.

-Jenni Reid

National Grid CEO John Pettigrew discusses the company’s annual results and investment plans for the next five years.

Britain’s economic output continued to grow in May, according to S&P Global’s closely watched Purchasing Managers’ Index, but missed economists’ forecasts.

The pace of growth has slowed as a rebound in manufacturing has failed to offset weakness in services.

The composite output figure produced by the survey was 52.8, down from 54.1 in April and down from an estimate of 53.9, according to a Reuters poll. The 50 mark separates growth from contraction.

Business activity in the country’s dominant services sector was at its lowest level in six months, with providers experiencing the lowest cost pressures in more than three years.

The latter point could provide “some comfort” to the Bank of England after official services inflation statistics came in higher than expected on Wednesday, said Andrew Wishart, senior UK economist at Capital Economics.

“Crucially, the further decline in the services producer price balance suggests that services inflation will continue to fall… Overall, the May flash PMIs support the view that inflation April CPI was more noise than signal,” Wishart said, adding that this would support an August rate cut from the BOE.

-Jenni Reid

Germany’s Gerresheimer climbed more than 12% at the start of the session, after the producer of medical products and packaging announced that it would acquire the holding company of the Bormioli Pharma group for an enterprise value of around 800 million euros ($866.32 million).

Gerresheimer said Bormioli had a complementary portfolio of glass and plastic primary pharmaceutical packaging, and the acquisition would strengthen its European presence with new production sites.

British aeronautical engineering company QinetiQ also rose around 12%, after reporting a 20% increase in operating profit in its annual results.

National Grid, Britain’s electricity grid operator, fell 9% after announcing a £7bn capital increase as it plans to invest £60bn over five years to 2029. It also reported an 8% drop in operating profit.

-Jenni Reid

European stock markets opened slightly higher on Thursday, with the Stoxx 600 index up 0.3% at 8:18 a.m. London time.

The French CAC 40 and the German DAX both fell 0.3%.

Britain’s FTSE 100 index bucked the trend and slipped 0.1%, as traders digested a surprise election announcement and Wednesday’s UK inflation figures, which dampened market expectations for a rate cut in June.

-Jenni Reid

Family offices have increased their investments in developed market fixed income by the highest amount in five years, according to a new UBS study.

This is one of the major changes observed in this survey of 320 global single family offices across seven regions – the largest family office study ever carried out by UBS.

Here’s how family offices are investing this year and how they plan to change their allocations over the next five years.

CNBC Pro subscribers can learn more here.

— Weizhen Tan

The hawkish tone in the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s latest meeting indicates that “higher and longer is the official mantra,” said Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer at Independent Advisor Alliance.

“Since rate cuts are off the table, bears would normally be excited, but with Chairman Powell officially pulling back on rate hikes, the market is going to fluctuate based on other factors,” Zaccarelli said.

He added that Nvidia’s earnings after the bell will dictate the direction the market moves in the coming days.

-Hakyung Kim

Minutes from the latest Federal Reserve meeting showed that the central bank remains concerned about U.S. inflation.

“Participants observed that although inflation has eased over the past year, there has been a lack of progress in recent months toward the Committee’s 2 percent target,” the report said. summary. “Recent monthly data showed significant increases in the price inflation components of goods and services.”

“Several participants mentioned their willingness to tighten policy further if inflation risks materialize in such a way that such action becomes appropriate,” the minutes add.

—Fred Imbert

A listed, diversified private equity investment company could see its share price rise by more than 40%, according to analysts at investment banks Peel Hunt and Jefferies.

The open-end fund invests in leading private companies such as SHEIN, Figma, Databricks, Discord and ByteDance, the owner of TikTok, among others.

It has assets worth nearly $4 billion invested in more than 1,000 companies.

CNBC Pro subscribers can learn more here.

-Ganesh Rao

European markets are expected to open higher on Thursday.

Britain’s FTSE 100 index is expected to open 1 point higher at 8,369, Germany’s DAX up 4 points at 18,681, France’s CAC up 14 points at 8,101 and Italy’s FTSE MIB up 30 points at 34,559, according to IG data.

Profits are expected to come from Julius Baer, ​​Acciona, Nationwide Building Society, Rolls-Royce, Aviva and Wizz Air. Preliminary data on Eurozone manufacturing activity and services for May are due, as are consumer confidence figures for the Eurozone.

—Houx Ellyatt