LONDON — European stocks were higher Thursday, like their global counterparts as the U.S. government shutdown came to an end.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 index was up almost 0.1% as of 9:49 a.m. in London (4:49 a.m. ET) with sectors in mixed territory.
United Kingdom FTSE100 index and that of Germany DAX were in the red on Thursday, down 0.28% and 0.22% respectively. On the other hand, France CAC40 increased by 0.53% and that of Italy MIB FTSE was up 0.29%. Spain Ibex 35 edged upwards.
Looking at individual stocks, pharmaceuticals performed well in the first hour of trading. Danish companies ALK and Zealand Pharma led the gains, gaining 11% and 4.48% respectively.
ALK raised its forecast on Wednesday. The company is now expected to grow 13-15% in local currencies, which is a slight increase from the previous 12-14%. The company said it saw growth across all sales regions and product lines.
Burberry shares jumped 7% after the luxury brand reported comparable growth in in-store sales for the first time in two years. Its comparable sales in the second quarter rose 2% from the previous quarter, above the 1% rise analysts expected according to a Reuters estimate. Growth was driven by a 3% rise in the Americas and China respectively, indicating that the company’s turnaround efforts are starting to bear fruit.
Meanwhile, Siemens Healthineers fell 2.5% after reports that Siemens, from which the medical technology company was spun off in 2017, would sell its 30% stake in the young company to its own investors.
Energy stocks fluctuated Thursday as investors reacted to a report from the International Energy Agency, which raised its oil supply forecast. Shell and Equinor fell slightly, P.A. lost 1.55% and ENI was down 0.15%. TotalEnergies, going against the trend, increased by 0.74%. The IEA report, which suggests “peak oil” is further away than initially thought, comes as the COP30 climate summit takes place in Brazil.
Investors in Europe will keep an eye on earnings reports from SiemensDeutsche Telekom, Énel, Merck, Aviva And Alstomamong others.
Turning to the data release, the UK economy grew by 0.1% in the third quarter, according to new preliminary figures from the Office for National Statistics in one of the last major economic data released ahead of the autumn budget.
“Clearly the summer of 2025 has been a bit of a disappointment,” said Sanjay Raja, Deutsche Bank’s chief economist in the UK, adding that the investment bank does not expect a big acceleration towards the end of the year, as inflation and unemployment rise.
“We expect fiscal uncertainty to start impacting spending in October and November,” Raja said. “And we expect major investment or hiring decisions to be delayed until the new year. In total, we still forecast annual GDP growth of 1.4% in 2025, but downside risks to our 2026 projections are already looming.”
European Union industrial production data is also due to be released on Thursday.
Stocks in the Asia-Pacific region mostly rose and U.S. stock futures rose overnight after U.S. President Donald Trump signed a funding bill, ending the longest federal government shutdown in U.S. history.
The measure, which will fund government operations through the end of January, passed the House of Representatives Wednesday evening by a vote of 222 to 209.
— Elsa Ohlen, Dan Mangan and Emily Wilkins of CNBC contributed to this market report.
