LONDON — European stocks opened higher on Wednesday as investors assessed the latest trade news, corporate earnings and inflation data.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 was 0.5% higher by 11:56 a.m. in London (6:56 a.m. ET), with most sectors and all major regional bourses in positive territory.
Looking at individual stocks, shares of Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk were 3.5% higher after the company announced it would cut around 9,000 jobs.
Elsewhere, Zara owner Inditex was up 6.3% after the company posted its first-half earnings. While the firm’s second-quarter sales were weaker than expected, Inditex said its new Autumn/Winter collections had been “very well received” by customers, with constant currency sales between August 1 and Sept. 7 jumping 9% year-on-year.
In a note sent to clients after the earnings release, Citi strategists said Intidex’ report demonstrated a “meaningful acceleration in current trading.”
“The momentum has improved materially into the first 5wks of [the third quarter],” they said.
European markets will also be focused on overnight reports that U.S. President Donald Trump asked the EU to hit China and India with tariffs of up to 100% over the countries’ Russia oil purchases. The move seeks to turn up the heat on Moscow to end the war in Ukraine, but risks further destabilizing global trade relations.
Inflation data is also in focus for global markets with key prints out of China overnight, and set to come from the U.S. later Wednesday and tomorrow.
S&P 500 futures rose slightly overnight, as traders turned their attention to the release of the latest producer price index. The report comes ahead of Thursday’s more closely watched consumer price index reading.
Economists expect the report to show monthly increases of 0.3% across the board, according to Dow Jones. If this materializes, it would push the annual headline CPI rate to 2.9%, while the core reading is expected to stay unchanged at 3.1%.
If these numbers come in around their estimates, the U.S. Federal Reserve to deliver another rate cut at its meeting next week.
Asia-Pacific markets meanwhile rose overnight, as investors assessed August inflation data out of China. Consumer prices in the mainland fell 0.4% year-over-year in August, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics released Wednesday, compared with expectations of a 0.2% drop by economists polled by Reuters.
— CNBC’s Nur Hikmah Md Ali and Jeff Cox contributed to this market report.
