European stocks gain even as US steadies after Trump surge

Irish shares rose on Thursday, to finish in line with their European peers.
The Iseq Overall Index rose 1.7 per cent. AIB rose 2.68 per cent to €5.35 and Bank of Ireland was up 2.01 per cent finishing at €8.62. Ryanair rose 1.15 per cent to €18.89. Food sector giant, Kerry Group rose 0.61 per cent to €90.85 while Glanbia was up 1.51 per cent to €14.82.
Housing builders Cairn Homes rose 1.39 per cent to €2.19 and Glenveagh Properties increased by 1.51 per cent to €14.82. Kingspan gained 0.67 per cent to stand at €74.95 a share. Dalata Hotels was up by 1 per cent, finishing at €4.48.
B&M moved to the top of the FTSE 100 after the budget retailer said sales growth was holding strong while household incomes remained squeeze.
The UK’s top index moved 0.51 per cent higher with United Utilities, Severn Trent and Centrica among the biggest risers of the day.
It marks a brief respite after hitting a three-month low during the week, with weak investor sentiment continuing to weigh on stock prices.
The more positive session comes ahead of a planned speech by Chancellor Rachel Reeves at the Mansion House in the City of London on Thursday evening, having already revealed plans to shake-up the pensions market.
Ms Reeves said reforming the pensions system would unlock around £80 billion of investment for infrastructure projects and business, helping to boost economic growth.
European shares rebounded from three-month lows, led by energy and tech stocks, after a round of largely positive corporate earnings. The Stoxx 600 index rose 0.96 per cent. The Dax in Germany rose 1.37 per cent and the Cac in France was up 1.32 per cent.
Among individual movers, shares in ASML rallied as the Dutch maker of advanced chip-making machines reaffirmed its long-term revenue forecast amid an artificial intelligence-driven boom in semiconductor demand.
Europe’s benchmark index has been under pressure since Trump won the race to the White House last week, with his so-called America-first policies, including hefty trade tariffs, widely expected to hurt markets outside the US stocks in the US have surged on the prospect of tax cuts and deregulation.
Stocks struggled to make headway, following a furious post-election rally that spurred calls for a breather amid signs of buyer fatigue.
Equities wavered near all-time highs, with the S&P 500 remaining close to technically overbought levels. That’s after a surge that drove the benchmark gauge up 25 per cent this year. Several measures highlight strong trader optimism, including the latest figures from the American Association of Individual Investors, which showed a spike in bullish sentiment last week.
In the run-up to Jerome Powell’s speech on Thursday, traders waded through economic data. US producer prices picked up in October, fuelled in part by gains in portfolio management and other categories that feed into the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge. Applications for unemployment benefits fell to the lowest level since May.
“The question we have is whether Powell’s dovishness will reset the tone for higher long rates. On that question alone, we say ‘no for now’,” noted Andrew Brenner at NatAlliance Securities. “But he will continue to support Fed easing in the near term, and even that will have a limited effect.”
The S&P 500 dropped 0.1 per cent. Most megacaps fell, while banks climbed. Cisco sank 2.5 per cent on a conservative annual forecast. Walt Disney jumped 9 per cent on a profit beat. The Nasdaq 100 slipped 0.2 per cent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fluctuated.
Several policymakers have urged a cautious approach to further interest-rate cuts in comments this week, in light of a strong economy, lingering inflation concerns and broad uncertainty. Additional reporting: agencies