LONDON — European stocks were higher on Thursday, tracking their global counterparts as the U.S. government shutdown came to an end.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 was nearly 0.1% higher 9:49 a.m. in London (4:49 a.m. ET) with sectors in mixed territory.
The U.K.’s FTSE 100 index and Germany’s DAX were in the red on Thursday, decreasing 0.28% and 0.22% respectively. In contrast, France’s CAC 40 rose 0.53% and Italy’s FTSE MIB was up 0.29%. Spain’s Ibex 35 edged upwards.
Looking at individual stocks, pharmaceuticals performed well in the first hour of trading. Denmark’s ALK and Zealand Pharma led gains, gaining 11% and 4.48% respectively.
ALK upped its guidance on Wednesday. The firm is now expected to grow by 13-15% in local currencies, representing a slight increase from its previous 12-14%. The firm said it saw growth in all sales regions and product lines.
Burberry’s shares jumped 7% after the luxury brand reported comparable store sales growth for the first time in two years. Its second-quarter comparable sales were up 2% compared to the previous quarter, above the 1% rise expected by analysts according to a Reuters estimate. Growth was driven by a 3% rise in the Americas and China, respectively, signaling the firm’s turnaround efforts are beginning to deliver results.
Meanwhile Siemens Healthineers dipped 2.5% after reports that Siemens, from which the medical technology firm was spun out of in 2017, will give its 30% stake in the younger company to its own investors.
Energy stocks fluctuated on Thursday as investors reacted to a report from the International Energy Agency, which lifted its oil supply forecast. Shell and Equinor edged lower, BP lost 1.55% and ENI was down 0.15%. TotalEnergies, bucking the trend, rose 0.74%. The IEA report, which suggests “peak oil” is further away than initially thought, comes as the climate summit COP30 takes place in Brazil.
Investors in Europe will be keeping an eye on earnings reports from Siemens, Deutsche Telekom, Enel, Merck, Aviva and Alstom, among others.
On data releases, the U.K. economy notched 0.1% growth in the third quarter, according to new preliminary figures from the Office for National Statistics in one of the last major economic data releases ahead of the Autumn Budget.
“It’s clear that the summer of 2025 was a little disappointing,” said Deutsche Bank’s Chief UK Economist Sanjay Raja, adding that the investment bank doesn’t expect much of an acceleration towards the end of the year as inflation and unemployment tick upwards.
“We expect budget uncertainty to start impacting spending in October and November,” Raja said. “And we expect big investment or hiring decisions to be delayed until the new year. Altogether, we still expect annual GDP to expand by 1.4% in 2025, but downside risks to our 2026 projections are already brewing.”
European Union industrial production data is also set to be released on Thursday.
Asia-Pacific shares mostly rose and U.S. stock futures ticked higher overnight after U.S. President Donald Trump signed a funding bill into law, effectively ending the longest federal government shutdown in U.S. history.
The measure, which will fund government operations through the end of January, was passed by the House of Representatives earlier Wednesday night in a 222-209 vote.
— CNBC’s Elsa Ohlen, Dan Mangan and Emily Wilkins contributed to this market report.