European Shares Rise As Banks Surge Ahead Of Unscheduled ECB Meeting

(RTTNews) - European stocks climbed on Wednesday as European Central Bank policymakers called an emergency meeting later today to discuss the recent sell-off in government bond markets.

The U.S. Federal Reserve delivers its rate decision later in the day, with markets bracing for a 50-75 bps rate hike.

Elsewhere, the Bank of England is likely to opt for a more cautious 25 basis-point increase when it announces its rate decision on Thursday.

The pan European Stoxx 600 was up 0.7 percent at 410.31 after six consecutive sessions of losses on worries that more aggressive monetary policy tightening will push the world's largest economy into a recession.

The German DAX, France's CAC 40 and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 were up between 0.8 percent and 1.2 percent.

Italian banks Unicredit, Intesa Sanpaolo and BPER Banca jumped 4-5 percent as European bond yields fell ahead of an unscheduled ECB meeting to discuss the recent volatility in bond markets.

Clariant AG rallied 3 percent. The Swiss specialty chemicals firm posted a rise in EBITDA for the first quarter, supported by higher sales, cost savings and pricing measures.

Swedish medical equipment maker Getinge plummeted 15 percent after lowering its FY22 sales forecast.

Swedish clothing company H&M declined 4 percent despite the company reporting a 12 percent rise in Q2 sales.

Bloomsbury Publishing jumped 2.8 percent in London. After reporting bumper profits, the Harry Potter publisher said the pandemic surge in reading appears to be permanent.

Hotel and restaurant company Whitbread soared 5 percent and retailer WH Smith jumped more than 7 percent after both said they are seeing business return to pre-pandemic levels.

Stellantis added 2.4 percent in Paris after the world's fourth-largest carmaker announced it would begin an indefinite layoff starting next week at its Sterling Heights stamping plant in Michigan.