The Arc De Triomphe stands while automobiles travel on the Avenue des Champs-Elysees as skyscrapers sit on the city skyline in the La Defense business district in Paris, France.
Christophe Morin | Bloomberg | Getty Images
LONDON — European stocks closed higher on Thursday, after regional markets continued to see-saw this week.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 index provisionally ended up around 0.6%, with major bourses in positive territory.
The U.K.’s FTSE index gained 0.1%, Germany’s DAX was up 0.4%, and France’s CAC 40 added 1.4%. The boost to the French index came after the country’s new government survived a no confidence vote on Thursday.
It’s been a choppy week for European markets with some indexes touching on two-week lows on Tuesday before reversing course to trade higher on Wednesday, with luxury brands driving gains.
Food and beverage-related stocks led gains on Thursday, with the Stoxx Food & Beverage index adding more than 4% by the closing bell. Nestle‘s stock surged 9.3% after the consumer goods giant announced it would slash jobs. Some 12,000 white-collar roles are to be axed, with a further reduction of 4,000 jobs to come over the next two years.
Looking at individual stocks, shares of German life science company Sartorius closed 7.6% higher after the company reported an increase in revenue and profitability. The group’s sales revenue increased 7.5% in the first nine months of the year, it said.
Shares of Nordea Bank also reached record highs on Thursday after ending the day up 3.5%, as lending income beat expectations. Mortgage and corporate lending each grew by 6% year on year, with the former driven by growth in Sweden and a recent acquisition in Norway, the company said.
At the other end of the index, Premier Inn-owner Whitbread fell by 10% after reporting a decline in profit and growth.
In corporate news, following the Dutch seizure of Chinese semiconductor company Nexperia, BMW said its supplier network has been impacted. Its share price, however, increased 0.8%.
Monthly data on U.K. growth may dampen spirits further as figures from the Office for National Statistics, released on Thursday, showed the British economy expanded by a meager 0.1% in August.
U.K. government borrowing costs fell on Thursday afternoon, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year gilt last seen at 4.502%. The British pound was up 0.2% against the U.S. dollar, trading at $1.340.
Elsewhere, the Swiss government slashed its 2026 growth forecast to 0.9% as U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs weighed on Switzerland’s export-heavy economy.
IMF and World Bank annual meetings
U.S. stocks were little changed Thursday after strong bank earnings shifted investor focus from risks both at home and abroad. The U.S. government shutdown heads into its third week and escalating trade tensions with China persist.
Meanwhile, Asia Pacifics markets rose overnight, with South Korea’s Kospi index hitting a record high after the International Monetary Fund raised the country’s 2025 growth forecast to 0.9% from 0.8% in its October outlook report.
CNBC has more coverage of the latest IMF/World Bank meetings in Washington this week, with interviews coming up with Austrian National Bank Governor Martin Kocher and Eurogroup President Paschal Donohoe on Thursday.
We’ll also be broadcasting our interviews with Joachim Nagel, president of the Bundesbank, François Villeroy de Galhau, governor of the Bank of France and National Bank of Belgium Governor Pierre Wunsch.
We also spoke to Poland’s Finance Minister Andrzej Domański and his Spanish counterpart, Carlos Cuerpo. Here’s a clip:
— CNBC’s Nur Hikmah Md Ali and Pia Singh contributed to this market report.
