FX.co ★ European Stocks Lack Direction

The STOXX 50 and STOXX 600 indices remained relatively unchanged on Thursday, following a slight decrease in bond market pressures and a dip in yields. Investor attention was centered on the forthcoming U.S. labor market data, which is anticipated to inform the Federal Reserve’s impending decisions. A rate cut is almost fully anticipated for this month. In the realm of trade policy, there were notable developments as President Trump urged the Supreme Court to expedite reviewing his appeal to overturn last week’s ruling, which found most tariffs illegal. Among the day's weakest sectors were travel stocks, notably with Jet2's shares plummeting by 13.8% after revising its winter 2025–26 capacity forecasts due to challenging market conditions. This had a domino effect, impacting the shares of peers such as Ryanair (-2.7%), easyJet (-4.5%), and TUI (-4.7%). In contrast, technology stocks showed strength, with SAP gaining 0.7% and ASML Holding rising by 0.9%.