Europe: Shares see first daily gain in five on strong earnings
The pan-European Stoxx 600 index closed 1 per cent higher. Most major regional bourses also gained, with Germany benchmark DAX gaining 1.5 per cent, while France's CAC 40 added 1.3 per cent.
Swiss engineering group ABB jumped almost 10 per cent after posting its highest quarterly order intake yet, driven by demand for products used in data centres to support artificial intelligence.
France's Legrand gained close to 9 per cent after the electrical infrastructure provider hiked its annual sales target, driven by strong growth in the North American data centre segment. Rival Schneider Electric also jumped 7.7 per cent.
European chipmakers recouped some losses from the previous session with TSMC, the world's main producer of advanced AI chips, posting a record profit in the second quarter, boosting sentiment. ASML rose 3.9 per cent, following an 11 per cent drop on Wednesday.
Ocado climbed 18.5 per cent after the online supermarket reported a 77 per cent rise in first-half underlying earnings and said its priority is to generate cash in its next financial year.
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The latest forecasts had shown that the outlook for European corporate health has deteriorated, with expectations of a drop of 0.7 per cent year on year in second-quarter earnings, according to LSEG I/B/E/S data.
Waiting on trade clarity
Investors continued to await clarity on US-EU trade talks with the bloc preparing retaliatory measures in case negotiations with Washington failed.
'Markets are still pretty optimistic that this may be the case and that things will progress in the next two weeks,' said Daniela Hathorn, senior market analyst at Capital.com.
'We have seen in the past, and even in Trump's first term, the amount of times that he actually threatened action and what he delivered was very limited.'
European equities fell sharply on Wednesday after Bloomberg reported that Trump is likely to fire Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell, but Trump later said he is not planning to do so.
Meanwhile, Britain and Germany signed a wide-ranging friendship treaty that deepened ties in areas including defence and transport as UK attempts to reset ties with the EU.
Among other moving stocks, Tomra Systems dropped 13.3 per cent, the worst day since October 2023, after the Norwegian group posted a second-quarter net sales miss.
Swedish carmaker Volvo Cars advanced 7.9 per cent after reporting a sharp decline in second-quarter operating profit that still exceeded analyst expectations.
Also on Thursday, US June retail sales data showed retail sales rebounding more than expected in June. REUTERS
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