European Shares Rally After Fed's Jumbo Rate Cut
(RTTNews) - European stocks advanced on Thursday after the U.S. Federal Reserve slashed its key rate by 50 basis points and signaled further easing, raising hopes of a soft landing for the world's largest economy.
The Bank of England's monetary policy announcement is due at 7.00 AM ET and the central bank is expected to refrain from cutting rates, given the unsupportive economic landscape.
The focus will be on the pace of quantitative tightening program. The bank could unveil another GBP 100 billion reduction in gilt holdings over the coming twelve months.
The pan European STOXX 600 jumped 1 percent to 519.62 after falling half a percent on Wednesday.
The German DAX climbed 0.9 percent, France's CAC 40 surged 1.5 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 added 1 percent.
Higher base metal prices boosted miners, with Anglo American, Antofagasta and Glencore rallying 3-4 percent.
British clothing retailer Next jumped 2.2 percent after raising its annual profit forecast.
Online grocer Ocado soared 7.2 percent after upgrading its revenue guidance.
Close Brothers rose more than 1 percent after the merchant banking group agreed to sell its wealth management unit, Close Brothers Asset Management (CBAM), to a private equity firm.
Automakers Renault, Volkswagen and Mercedes Benz were up 1-3 percent despite Europe's new car registrations posting a steep decline in August.
New car sales decreased 18.3 percent on a yearly basis with negative results across all four major markets, largely due to the notable decrease in electric car sales, according to data from the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association.
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