Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., on September 17, 2025, as Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s press conference after the Fed’s interest rate announcement is shown on a screen.
Brendan McDiarmid | Reuters
LONDON — European stocks edged higher on Wednesday as investors awaited the end of the U.S. Federal Reserve meeting, with some stocks particularly buoyed by earnings.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 was up 0.2% as of 10:21 a.m. London (6:21 a.m. ET), with major indexes and sectors mixed.
british FTSE100 The index rose almost 0.5%, with Germany’s dachshund France fell by about 0.1%. CAC40 It was last seen straddling the flat line. italian FTSE MIB Spain also rose 0.4%. ibex 35has been doing well recently.
The big event for the market was today’s Fed rate cut, which traders consider a quarter-point rate cut complete. If the Federal Open Market Committee acts as expected, the federal funds rate will be in the range of 3.75%-4.00%.
What is less certain is whether Chairman Jerome Powell will strike a dovish tone in his post-meeting comments.
After this week’s rate cut, 84% of respondents expected another rate cut in December, and 54% expected a third rate cut in January, according to an October CNBC Fed survey. Rate cuts are expected to total 100 basis points this year and next, bringing the federal funds rate down to 3.2% by the end of 2026.
Focus on profit
Financial results are again dominating the market’s attention this week. alphabet, Meta platform and microsoft It is expected to report after the close of U.S. trading on Wednesday. Apple and Amazon will announce the results on Thursday.
In Europe, Germany’s Mercedes-Benz Group on Wednesday reported a 70% drop in third-quarter operating profit, citing costs related to thousands of job cuts as it aims to save 5 billion euros ($5.81 billion) by 2027. Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) for the quarter amounted to 750 million euros, significantly lower than 2.5 billion euros in the same period last year.
The luxury car maker, like its European peers, is facing a perfect storm of challenges, hit by strong Chinese demand and rising costs from U.S. tariffs. Nevertheless, Mercedes-Benz Group shares rose 5.7% during morning trading, somewhat paring earlier gains that put the company on track for its best trading day since July 2022.
In the early morning declaration, Santander reported a 7.8% year-on-year profit increase over the past nine months, which the bank attributed to strong performance and efficiencies such as operational simplification, lower bad debts and credit risk, and customer growth. The company’s shares rose 3.8% on Wednesday.
The company’s third-quarter sales reached 15.3 billion euros, up 1% year-on-year, but narrowly below analysts’ expectations, according to data compiled by LSEG. However, net operating income was slightly better at 8.99 billion euros, up 2% year-on-year. The company maintained its 2025 forecast of sales of 62 billion euros.
But Santander’s UK subsidiary postponed its financial results on Friday following a court ruling ordering it to disclose dealer fees on car finance transactions as part of the fallout from the car finance scandal.
meanwhile, deutsche bank Shares rose about 1.3% after the company posted a better-than-expected third-quarter net profit of 1.56 billion euros (analysts expected 1.34 billion euros), LSEG said. This number represents a 7% increase on a quarterly basis. Deutsche Bank said all four of its businesses – Corporate Banking, Investment Banking, Private Banking and Wealth Management – are “progressing in line with our strategic plans” and have put its operations on track this year. Current guidance is for sales of approximately 32 billion euros.
Adidas shares fell 3% in the first few hours of trading following confirmation of the preliminary results.
In other places, nokia The stock fell 4.5% on Wednesday as investors reacted to the chipmaker’s news on Tuesday. Nvidia has acquired a $1 billion stake in the Finnish networking company, forming a strategic partnership to develop next-generation 6G cellular technology.
Trade tensions between the United States and China appear to be easing ahead of Thursday’s meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. President Trump said Wednesday that he expects to lower fentanyl tariffs on China ahead of the meeting.
Thursday is a busy day for financial results announcements in Europe. airbus, UBS, Santander bank, Equinor, deutsche bank, BASF, adidas, GSK and Endesa Set to report. Data release includes Spain’s GDP.
— CNBC’s Sam Meredith, Steve Liesman and Sarah Min contributed to this market report.
