Europe stocks hit fresh record high on earnings, Ukraine peace hopes

European stock markets rose Thursday, amid a flurry of earnings and economic data, and rising hopes of an end to the Russia-Ukraine war.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index moved higher by 1% while France's CAC 40 rose by 1.5% and Germany's Dax index rose 2.1%, the biggest one-day gain in two 2 years. Meanwhile, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 fell by 0.49%.

— Ganesh Rao

The S&P 500 opened 0.3% higher, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped more than 140 points, or 0.3%, shortly after the market open. The Nasdaq Composite gained 0.5%.

— Pia Singh

A gauge of wholesale prices rose in January, indicating that pipeline inflation pressures are persisting and likely keeping the Federal Reserve on the sidelines regarding interest rate cuts.

The producer price index, which measures what producers get for their goods and services, increased by a seasonally adjusted 0.4% on the month, compared to the Dow Jones estimate for 0.3%, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Thursday.

Excluding food and energy, core PPI was up 0.3%, in line with the forecast.

The release comes the day after the BLS reported that the consumer price index rose 0.5% on the month, putting the annual inflation rate at 3% and well out of reach of the Fed's 2% long-run goal.

— Jeff Cox

The British pound and the euro were both higher against the U.S. dollar at 11:40 a.m. in London as investors parsed tepid growth data from the U.K., and the possibility of an end to the Russia-Ukraine war.

Sterling was 0.35% higher against the greenback at $1.248, while the euro climbed 0.37% to $1.04.

Attention Wednesday was on hot U.S. inflation data and the possibility for limited or even zero Federal Reserve interest rate cuts this year.

Focus has also now turned to whether U.S. President Donald Trump's team will manage to broker peace talks that lead to a breakthrough in the nearly three-year-old war between Russia and Ukraine.

Meanwhile, U.K. GDP data released Thursday showed 0.1% growth in the fourth quarter rather than the 0.1% decline expected by economists, even as real GDP per capita did fall by 0.1%.

"The news may take some pressure off the Bank of England from delivering aggressive interest rate cuts in the coming months," Matthew Ryan, head of market strategy at global financial services firm Ebury, said in emailed comments.

However, he added that the economic outlook remained complicated.

"Growth effectively flatlined in the second half of last year, with the average Brit finding themselves worse off in real terms as they feel the pinch from still elevated inflation, high mortgage rates and the largest tax burden on record," Ryan said.

— Jenni Reid

Dimitri De Vreeze, CEO of Dsm-Firmenich, talks about the company's merger and share buyback program off the back of its full-year earning results.

European stock markets were higher early Thursday, with the regional Stoxx 600 index up 0.49% at 8:15 a.m. in London.

Germany's DAX index jumped 1.05% and France's CAC 40 climbed 0.83%.

However, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 slipped 0.45% as investors weighed economic growth data and banking and energy stocks traded broadly lower.

— Jenni Reid

British bank Barclays on Thursday posted a rise in full-year pre-tax profit that came in just ahead of analyst expectations, while also launching a £1 billion share buyback.

Pretax profit rose by 24% to £8.108 billion in 2024, just above analyst expectations of £8.081 billion, according to LSEG. 

Read the full story here.

— Ruxandra Iordache

The U.K. economy grew by 0.1% in the fourth quarter, beating expectations, according to a preliminary estimate from the U.K.'s Office for National Statistics (ONS) on Thursday.

Economists polled by Reuters had expected the country's GDP to contract by 0.1% over the period.

The services and construction sectors contributed to the better-than-expected performance in the economy, up 0.2% and 0.5% respectively, but production fell by 0.8%, the ONS said.

The British economy had recorded zero growth in the third quarter and lackluster monthly GDP data since then, with a 0.1% contraction in October and a 0.1% expansion in November. 

The British pound was up 0.5% against the dollar after the data release, and flat against the euro.

Sluggish growth and a recent drop in inflation prompted the Bank of England last week to make its first interest rate cut of the year, bringing its benchmark rate down to 4.5%.

— Holly Ellyatt

Siemens CEO Roland Busch said Thursday that Europe needs to "pull back" its regulatory agenda and instead allow business more scope to innovate.

"We are overregulating in Europe, that is my belief. We should innovate and then regulate. We should pull it back," he told CNBC's Steve Sedgwick. "We are not against regulations, but we have to be mindful."

Busch also said that the German economy required a reset to support businesses and get growth back on track.

"We have to change something. We have to get this German economy back into a growth momentum, we cannot live with the contraction or very, very low growth," he said.

Technology group Siemens on Thursday reported better than expected first-quarter profits despite a "significant decline" at its factory automation business.

Profit in its industrial business fell 8% year-on-year to 2.52 billion euros ($2.62 billion) in the three months to Dec. 31, ahead of a company compiled forecast of 2.44 billion euros.

— Karen Gilchrist

Germany's second-largest lender Commerzbank on Thursday announced it will eliminate 3,900 full-time positions by 2028, largely in its native Germany, as it unveiled a spate of new strategic targets.

The job cuts will be accompanied by increases in staffing in "selected areas" such as in international locations, resulting in a broadly constant global headcount of 36,700, the bank said in its strategic update.

Revenue in 2024 came in at 11.1 billion euros, compared with 10.461 billion euros in 2023.

Read the full story here.

— Ruxandra Iordache

Nestle, the world's largest packaged food company, on Thursday posted an anticipated decline in full-year sales growth but pointed to an uptick in 2025 assuming "no significant change in key macroeconomic variables."

Full-year organic sales rose 2.2%, meeting the forecast by LSEG analysts but well below the 7.2% recorded in 2023.

Net profit was 10.9 billion Swiss francs ($11.95 billion), in line with company compiled expectations.

Nestle in October cut its full-year outlook amid weak underlying sales growth, saying it expects 2024 organic sales of around 2% and an underlying trading operating profit margin of about 17%. This latter measure came in at 17.2% in 2024.

"From 2025, we expect our actions to drive an improvement in organic sales growth, with a lower underlying trading operating profit margin in the short term as we invest for growth. While there is macroeconomic uncertainty, we have lots of opportunities ahead of us, and we have the strategy, the resources and the people and team to deliver," CEO Laurent Freixe said in a statement.

Freixe took the reins in September, replacing Mark Schneider who was ousted after several quarters of weak sales.

— Karen Gilchrist

Good morning from London, and welcome to CNBC's live blog covering all the action and business news in European financial markets on Thursday.

Futures data from IG suggests a generally positive open for European indexes, with London's FTSE 100 seen opening 0.15% higher, France's CAC 40 and Germany's DAX are seen opening around the flatline, and Italy's FTSE MIB slightly higher.

The pullback in sentiment among European bourses comes ahead of the latest indicator of the state of health of major regional economies, with gross domestic product readings from the U.K. and European Union on Thursday.

European markets had ended the day higher on Wednesday, with the pan-European Stoxx 600 index rising 0.55% after the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite rallied to new records yesterday. Investors are gearing up for more inflation data to assess the state of the U.S. economy.

The producer price index, due Thursday, will be significant factors in the direction interest rates take at the Federal Reserve's next meeting in September.

— Holly Ellyatt