LONDON — European stock markets turned positive on Wednesday as global markets rose.
pan-european Stocks 600 At around 2:30 p.m. (9:30 a.m. ET) in London, major sectors and stock exchanges were mixed, rising nearly 0.2%.
The gains came as major U.S. indexes rebounded in Tuesday’s trading session and Asia-Pacific markets rose strongly overnight, following a slight decline earlier in the week.
Wall Street’s gains were driven by gains in tech stocks such as Nvidia and gains in Bitcoin on Tuesday, a day after the flagship cryptocurrency posted its worst day since March.
of S&P500, Nasdaq and dow jones Right after the opening bell on Wednesday, everything was in negative territory.
December trading historically bodes well for U.S. stocks, and November was a very weak month with profit-taking driving down the valuations of some big-ticket stocks, with investors looking to gauge the potential for a year-end rally.
Looking at individual stocks, ZARA’s parent company Inditex reported strong nine-month results on Wednesday, revealing currency-adjusted sales from Nov. 1 to Dec. 1 increased 10.6% compared to the same period in 2024. The stock last traded up more than 10%. The Spanish company said its fall/winter collection “remains well received.”
The fast fashion group, which also owns brands such as Bershka, Massimo Dutti, Oysho, Pull & Bear and Stradivarius, said currency-adjusted sales for the quarter rose 8.4% from a year earlier to 9.8 billion euros ($11.4 billion), and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization rose 8.9% to 3.2 billion euros.
The company’s Madrid-listed shares have lagged the Stoxx 600 this year, dropping nearly 7% year-to-date by Wednesday’s trading hours amid increased competition from lower-priced brands such as China’s Shein and Temu.
“This was a very impressive result for Inditex, with strong trading in the second half (of the third quarter),” Barclays analyst Matthew Clements said in a note. He added that significant gross profit expansion and a strong start to the quarter, including Black Friday, provide reassurance heading into 2026.
german fashion brand hugo boss has launched a strategic review to “pave the way for profitable growth” and updated its guidance on Wednesday. The company expects profit before interest and tax to reach between 300 million euros ($349 million) and 350 million euros in 2026, and expects sales to decline in the short term, suggesting a difficult year ahead. The company’s stock price fell more than 11%, but recovered some losses in early trading and ended down 10%.
Hugo Boss stock price since the beginning of the year
In October, FTSE-100 engineering firm Smith Group announced it would sell some of its companies. Now, the British company announced Wednesday that its baggage screening division, Smiths Detection, will be sold to private equity firm CVC Capital for 2 billion pounds ($2.65 billion). Smith Group stock rose 0.5% in afternoon trading. This follows the recent sale of Smiths Interconnect, an electronic components division focused on the defense and medical industries.
Shares in UK renewable energy companies drax group also rose on Wednesday, rising 4.3% on news that it is moving forward with its share buyback program announced in July. The company bought 76,241 shares in the company on December 2, according to an LSE filing.
Dutch aerospace and defense company Airbus’ Frankfurt-listed shares rose 4.5% after the company lowered its aircraft delivery targets, citing “recent supplier quality issues in fuselage panels impacting the delivery flow of the A320 family.” This confirmed previous reports. This year, it expects commercial aircraft deliveries to fall by 30 aircraft to 790 aircraft.
Elsewhere, Jeep owner shares Stellantis The company rose 8% in morning trading after Swiss investment bank UBS upgraded the stock to “buy” and advised investors to bet on the company’s “American comeback.”
UBS expects Stellantis to regain market share by about 120 basis points in 2026 from a year ago, adding that the automaker will also benefit from relaxed U.S. emissions standards and internal cost-cutting measures. The company’s stock price was recently up 5.1%.
Reuters reported on Tuesday, citing anonymous sources, that the Trump administration is preparing to propose a major reversal of Biden-era fuel efficiency standards. These moves will make it easier for manufacturers to sell gasoline-powered cars.
Investors around the world are paying close attention to the Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision on December 10th.
According to the CME FedWatch tool, the market has priced in the probability of a rate cut at the next meeting to be about 89%, which is much higher than the probability in mid-November.
—CNBC’s Pia Singh, Chloe Taylor and Elsa Ohlen contributed to this market report.
