European Stocks Close Broadly Higher

(RTTNews) - European stocks closed broadly higher on Tuesday as investors reacted to the latest batch of European and U.S. economic data, and remained largely optimistic about interest rate cut by several central banks.

The pan European Stoxx 600 advanced 0.15%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 0.16% and France's CAC 40 climbed 0.2%. Germany's DAX ended down 0.14%, and Switzerland's SMI closed higher by 0.14%.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Czech Republic, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Turkiye closed higher.

Belgium, Greece and Netherlands ended weak, while Denmark and Norway closed flat.

In the UK market, Ocado Group shares soared 8.1%. Vodafone Group rallied 4.7% as the telecom operator reported a 2.2% rise in organic earnings for 2024.

Glencore climbed 3.6%. BT Group, St. James's Place, Rightmove, Burberry Group, SSE, Severn Trent, Schrodders, Airtel Africa, United Utilities, Centrica and Auto Trader Group gained 1.4 to 3%.

Anglo American Plc drifted down 3.2% after it unveiled plans to offload several assets as part of a turnaround effort.

DCC ended 2.3% down, and Flutter Entertainment ended lower by 2% after reporting a wider quarterly net loss. Shell and IHG also closed notably lower.

In the German market, Sartorius climbed more than 4%. Commerzbank gained about 3.2%, while Volkswagen, Merck and Puma ended higher by 2.3 to 2.6%.

Porsche, Fresenius Medical Care, Qiagen, Deutsche Bank, Mercedes-Benz, RWE, Daimler Truck Holding and Adidas also posted strong gains.

Brenntag tumbled more than 8%. Hannover Rueck dropped 3.5% despite posting solid results in the first quarter and confirming its 2024 guidance.

Rheinmetall lost 2.8% after missing sales and profit forecasts in the first quarter. Siemens, Deutsche Boerse, Beiersdorf, E.ON and SAP lost 1 to 1.5%.

In the French market, Societe Generale rallied nearly 4%. Stellantis, Veolia, STMicroElectronics and Kering gained 1.9 to 2.2%. Eurofins Scientific, LVMH, Renault and Pernod Ricard also ended notably higher.

Unibail Rodamco, Sanofi, Publicis Groupe and Danone ended weak.

Average earnings in the U.K. grew better than expected in March and the jobless rate rose slightly, while the fall in employment was less than expected and vacancies continued to decline, giving more evidence of a cooling labor market to Bank of England that is preparing to lower interest rates soon.

Wages excluding bonuses grew 6% year-on-year in the January to March period, preliminary data from the Office for National Statistics showed.

Bank of England (BoE) Chief Economist Huw Pill said today that it's "not unreasonable" for the central bank to consider rate cuts over the summer.

Final data from Destatis showed Germany's consumer price inflation held steady as initially estimated in April, coming in at 2.2%, the same in March, and the lowest since May 2021.

On the other hand, EU harmonised inflation rose slightly to 2.4% from 2.3%, as estimated.

Investor sentiment in Germany grew for a tenth month and at a faster than expected pace in May to its highest level in over two years, on hopes of an interest rate cut by the European Central Bank in June and an increase in export demand from China, results of a survey revealed.

The ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment for Germany climbed to 47.1 from 42.9 in April.

Meanwhile, data from the Labor Department showed producer prices in the U.S. increased by more than expected in the month of April.

The report said that the producer price index for final demand climbed by 0.5% in April after a revised 0.1% dip in March. Economists had expected producer prices to rise by 0.3 percent compared to the 0.2 percent uptick originally reported for the previous month.

The report also said the annual rate of producer price growth accelerated to 2.2% in April from a downwardly revised 1.8% in March. The year-over-year producer price growth was expected to inch up to 2.2% from the 2.1% originally reported for the previous month.