European equities saw modest gains on Thursday after opening on a subdued note, with traders continuing to assess the Federal Reserve’s latest rate cut and Chair Jerome Powell’s cautious tone during his post-meeting remarks.

As anticipated, the Fed trimmed its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points on Wednesday. Powell later emphasized that policymakers will need to “wait and see” before deciding on additional action. While Fed officials penciled in only one more rate cut in their 2026 projections, market participants continue to wager that the risks lean toward more aggressive easing.

In Switzerland, the Swiss National Bank opted to keep its main policy rate at 0%. The decision follows November inflation data showing price growth at zero, the bottom of the SNB’s target range of 0%–2%.

Against this backdrop, major European benchmarks moved higher in early trading. France’s CAC 40 rose 0.6%, Germany’s DAX advanced 0.3%, and the UK’s FTSE 100 hovered marginally above the flat line.

UK Market Movers

The top performer in the FTSE 100 was The Magnum Ice Cream Company (LSE:MICC), jumping 4.8%. Ashtead Group (LSE:AHT) climbed 4%, while Convatec Group (LSE:CTEC), Berkeley Group Holdings (LSE:BKG), Weir Group (LSE:WEIR), Whitbread (LSE:WTB), Pearson (LSE:PSON), Sainsbury (J) (LSE:SBRY), Diageo (LSE:DGE) and Metlen Energy & Metals (LSE:MTLN) posted gains between 1.5% and 2.4%.

Entain (LSE:ENT) slid 3.7%, making it one of the session’s weakest names. Associated British Foods (LSE:ABF) and Informa (LSE:INF) declined 2.1% and 1.2%, respectively. Lloyds Banking Group (LSE:LLOY), NatWest (LSE:NWG), The Sage Group (LSE:SGE) and Smith & Nephew (LSE:SN.) saw moderate declines.

Germany’s DAX Movers

Daimler Truck Holding, Merck, Munich RE, Heidelberg Materials, Siemens, Deutsche Post, Brenntag, Rheinmetall, Commerzbank, BASF, Continental and Beiersdorf all traded higher, advancing between 1% and 3%.

Symrise slipped about 3%, while Deutsche Börse, E.ON and SAP fell 2.2% to 2.7%. BMW also retreated, losing around 1.4%.

French Market Highlights

Schneider Electric was among the strongest performers, rising roughly 3%. The move followed the company’s announcement of a planned share buyback totaling €2.5–€3.5 billion and a divestment program of €1.0–€1.5 billion in revenues, both to be completed by 2030.

Teleperformance (TP) gained 3.5%. Saint-Gobain, Capgemini and Carrefour advanced 2.3% to 3%. VINCI, Pernod Ricard and AXA also recorded notable increases.

On the downside, Stellantis, Renault and Legrand fell 3.2%, 2.5% and 2.1%, respectively. STMicroelectronics dipped by around 1.6%.

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