European Stocks Close On Strong Note After Cooler-than-expected U.S. Inflation Data

(RTTNews) - European stocks closed on a buoyant note on Tuesday after cooler-than-expected U.S. inflation data helped ease concerns about the outlook for Federal Reserve's interest rates.

The Labor Department said U.S. consumer price index was unchanged in October after climbing by 0.4% in September. Economists had expected consumer prices to inch up by 0.1%. Core consumer prices edged up by 0.2% in October after rising by 0.3% in September. Core prices were expected to rise by another 0.3%.

The report also said the annual rate of consumer price growth slowed to 3.2% in October from 3.7% in September. Economists had expected the pace of growth to decelerate to 3.3%.

The pan European Stoxx 600 climbed 1.34%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 advanced 0.2%, Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 gained 1.76% and 1.39%, respectively, while Switzerland's SMI surged 1.18%.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Turkiye closed with sharp to moderate gains.

Denmark and Russia ended on a weak note.

In the UK market, DCC soared nearly 12%. British Land Company surged more than 9%, Just Eat Takeaway.com gained 8.5% and Carnival climbed nearly 7.5%.

Retail group Ocado climbed nearly 11% amid the 14-basis point drop in Gilt yields after the US CPI data.

Glencore gained more than 5% after it agreed to buy a majority stake in Teck Resources Ltd.'s coal business for $6.93 billion in cash. Informa also surged about 5% after lifting its full-year guidance.

Segro, Anglo American, Persimmon, Land Securities, Barratt Developments, RightMove, Antofagasta, TUI, Taylor Wimpey and ICP gained 4 to 6.5%.

Vodafone ended more than 5% down. The telecommunications company reported a much lower pre-tax profit for the first half of fiscal 2024, reflecting adverse foreign-exchange rate movements and business disposals in the prior year.

BAE Systems, BT, M&G, Relx, Centrica, GSK, Compass Group and Ds Smith also ended sharply lower.

In Germany, Zalando zoomed 9.5%. Vonovia, Sartorius, Fresenius Medical Care, Continental and Adidas surged 5 to 8.2%.

RWE gained nearly 5% as the utility posted an 82% increase in core profit for the first nine months.

Porsche, Siemens Healthineers, Fresenius, Puma, Infineon, Siemens Energy, HeidelbergCement, Siemens, Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Brenntag, Merck, Covestro, Beiersdorf and Deutsche Post gained 2 to 5%.

In Paris, WorldLine climbed 8% and Unibail Rodamco surged 7.25%. Alstom rallied more than 5.5%.

Teleperformance, Eurofins Scientific, ArcelorMittal, STMicroElectronics, Kering, Saint Gobain, Hermes International and Pernod Ricard gained 3 to 5%.

Publicis Groupe, LVMH, Legrand, L'Oreal, Veolia, Dassault Systemes, Michelin, Renault, Schneider Electric, Stellantis, Essilor, Safran, Airbus and Societe Generale climbed 1.2 to 3%.

In economic releases from the region, data from the Statistical Office said the Euro area is on the brink of recession as the economy of the single currency bloc failed to grow in three out of the last four quarters. Confirming the previous estimate, gross domestic product shrunk 0.1% quarterly, reversing the 0.2% expansion in the second quarter.

Germany's investor sentiment rose more than expected in November and moved into the positive territory for the first time in seven months amid an improvement in economic expectations, survey results from the think tank ZEW showed. The economic sentiment index rose for the fourth month in a row to 9.8 points from -1.1 in October. Economists had forecast a score of 5.0 points.

UK wage growth eased in the third quarter and vacancies declined further reflecting the loosening labor market conditions, data from the Office for National Statistics showed. Excluding bonuses, regular pay growth was 7.7% in the three months to September, in line with expectations but slower than the revised 7.9% rise in the period through August. The unemployment rate was 4.2%, which was largely unchanged from the previous quarter, data showed.