BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - European stocks were flat to slightly higher on Thursday as investors digested a slew of earnings and reacted to a flurry of trade and tariff-related announcements from U.S. President Donald Trump on the eve of his Friday deadline.
In economic releases, preliminary data showed inflation remained unchanged month-on-month in two important German states in July.
The number of people out of work in Germany increased by 2,000 in July, significantly below analyst expectations, labor office figures revealed.
The pan European STOXX 600 edged up by 0.2 percent to 551.47 after ending flat with a negative bias on Wednesday.
The German DAX rose 0.4 percent, France's CAC 40 was marginally higher and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 0.3 percent.
French utilities company Veolia Environnement declined 1.7 percent after reporting a decline in first-half revenue.
Ipsen, a specialty care biopharmaceutical company, lost 4 percent despite delivering strong first-half results and upgrading its full-year guidance.
Hotel group Accor plunged 12 percent as revenue per available room (RevPAR), a key industry metric, came in below forecasts in the second quarter.
Airline Lufthansa was marginally higher and peer Air France-KLM surged 4.3 percent after reporting higher second-quarter profits.
Reinsurer SCOR slumped 4 percent despite reporting strong Q2 results.
Construction, media and telecoms group Bouygues declined 3.4 percent as it reported weak organic growth for the first half of the year.
Lender Societe Generale surged 6.2 percent after raising its full-year profitability target.
Drug maker Sanofi gave up nearly 3 percent on reporting lower-than-expected profit for the second quarter.
German defense electronics maker Hensoldt rallied 3.5 percent as it reported solid revenue growth and a record order backlog in its H1 2025 results.
Swiss cement giant Holcim rose 1.1 percent as second-quarter profit came in above expectations.
ArcelorMittal, the world's second-largest steelmaker, shed 3.6 percent after cutting its forecast for steel demand outside of China.
France's Safran surged 4 percent and U.K.'s Rolls-Royce Holdings soared 9 percent after raising their profit outlooks.
British American Tobacco gained more than 1 percent as first-half profit beat estimates.
Energy major Shell advanced 1.5 percent as second-quarter profit beat expectations and the company said it would buy back $3.5 billion of shares over the coming three months.
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