European stocks saw a marginal increase in a wary trading environment on Thursday, as speculators predicted a probable lowering of borrowing costs by the European Central Bank in the upcoming spring. The likely timing for this adjustment was suggested as June by Francois Villeroy de Galhau, the Governor of the Bank of France, during a radio interview. He clarified that this decision would depend on the evolving economic data.
In other economic news, recent definitive data from the Spanish statistical bureau, INE, indicated a easing of inflation in the country to the lowest level in the last six months as of February, corroborating initial projections. The consumer price inflation dissipated from 3.4% in the previous month to 2.8% in February. This reflected estimates and was the bottommost rate since August of the previous year. The inflation data harmonized across the European Union also registered a six-monthly low of 2.9%, in line with projections and a decrease from 3.5% in January.
Upcoming U.S. reports on producer price inflation for February, weekly unemployment claims, and retail sales might offer further insight into the interest rate prospects. The collective European STOXX 600 showed a rise of 0.2%, reaching 508.38, following a similar increase on Wednesday. Germany's DAX also showed a 0.2% increase. Concurrently, France's CAC 40 rose by 0.7%, while the UK's FTSE 100 remained mostly unchanged, relinquishing early profits.
The independent power producer from Germany, Encavis AG saw a whopping rise of 27% due to a takeover proposal by private equity firm, KKR, worth 2.8 billion euros ($3.06 billion). In contrast, Hapag-Lloyd, a container shipping company, observed a near 2% drop due to its predictions of reduced profits this year.
Profitable performances were also seen by companies like IG Group Holdings, British meal delivery company Deliveroo, and homebuilder Vistry. Meanwhile, Airline EasyJet saw a decline of 2.5% after finalising a debt issue.
