Following the release of the Federal Reserve’s December meeting minutes, which revealed the central bank was committed to containing inflation, European markets decline on Thursday ahead of euro zone inflation statistics.
After rising more than 3% in its first three sessions of 2023, the pan-European STOXX fell 0.3% by 08:10 GMT.
The Federal Reserve’s policy meeting minutes from December, released on Wednesday, showed that officials were worried about “misperception” in financial markets that their commitment to combating inflation was decreasing. Despite this concern, the officials agreed that the central bank should slow its tightening of monetary policy. The minutes from the policy meeting revealed these conflicting views.
European shares increase for a third day in a row on positive economic data.
European markets had a strong start to the year after a challenging 2022. “Positive economic data, including a less severe recession than expected, falling price pressures in some countries, and hopes for a post-COVID recovery in China, aided [the market’s] strong start to the year.” These factors contributed to the market’s strong start to the year.
Investors are waiting for producer price data, which is due later today, for hints about how the aggressive tightening by the European Central Bank to combat inflation will play out.
After posting better-than-expected fourth-quarter sales and improving its 2022–23 profit outlook, British clothing manufacturer Next increased by 5.6%.
Ryanair posted a 4.7% increase in profit after tax and updated its outlook accordingly. The company attributes this improvement to the recent pent-up demand for travel. However, Ryanair also warned that COVID and the conflict in Ukraine could still affect its performance.