European Stocks Close Higher On Encouraging Economic Data

(RTTNews) - European stocks closed higher on Friday, with several markets, including France, posting multi-year, or all-time highs, on fairly encouraging economic data.

Data showing a jump in French consumer confidence in January, and signs of cooling inflation in the euro area contributed to the firm undertone in European markets. U.S. consumer price inflation data helped as well.

The pan European Stoxx 600 climbed 1.11%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 climbed 1.4%. Germany's DAX gained 0.32%, and France's CAC 40 surged 2.28% to a record closing high, while Switzerland's SMI ended 1.62% up.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Turkiye closed higher.

Portugal ended weak, while Iceland settled flat.

In the UK market, Diageo surged more than 5%, cheered by impressive sales report from French luxury goods company LVMH.

Croda International, Burberry Group, Vodafone, St. James's Place, Rentokil Initial, Spirax-Sarco Engineering and Beazley gained 3 to 5%.

United Utilities, Barclays Group, Natwest Group, Prudential, Flutter Entertainment, Unilever, RS Group, Standard Chartered, HSBC Holdings, Hikma Pharmaceuticals, Reckitt Benckiser, ICH, Mondia, Severn Trent, Phoneix Holdings and Rightmove gained 2 to 3%.

Centrica dropped more than 3%. J Sainsbury ended down 2.7%, while SSE, Tesco, Marks & Spencer and BAE Systems lost 1.3 to 2%.

In the German market, Sartorius jumped more than 9% and Merck rallied 5.3%. Porsche and Zalando both gained nearly 3.5%. Covestro, Mercedes-Benz, Symrise, Commerzbank, Siemens Energy, Fresenius, Brenntag, Adidas and Fresenius Medical Care advanced 1 to 3%.

RWE tumbled nearly 7%. Bayer and Deutsche Boerse lost 1.3% and 1%, respectively.

In the French markt, LVMH soared nearly 13% after reporting a 10% jump in fourth-quarter sales, driven by strong demand, including from Chinese buyers.

Remy Cointreau zoomed more than 15% after the spirits maker posted a slightly smaller-than-expected decline in third-quarter sales.

Pernod Ricard and Kering both surged more than 7.5%. Hermes International climbed nearly 6%. Teleperformance, Alstom, L'Oreal, Saint Gobain, Veolia, Carrefour and TotalEnergies gained 1.5 to 3.4%.

WorldLine ended more than 4% down. Engie ended nearly 4% down, and STMicroElectronics drifted down by about 3%.

Data released by INSEE showed the consumer confidence indicator for France rose to 91 in January, versus previous month's reading of 89. Markets had expected a reading of 90.

Inflation expectations for the euro area were downgraded for this year and next on oil prices, weaker economic activity and lower out-turn of actual inflation figures, the Survey of Professional Forecasters from the European Central Bank showed.

Headline inflation for this year was lowered to 2.4% from 2.7% and that for next year to 2% from 2.1%. Inflation was forecast to remain unchanged at 2% in 2026. Longer-term expectations for headline HICP inflation were revised down to 2%.

Data released earlier in the day showed the GfK Consumer Climate Indicator dropping to -29.7 in February, versus a revised -25.4 in the previous month and missing the market consensus of -24.5. The reading is also the lowest in 11 months.

U.S. Commerce Department's report showed consumer prices in December were up by 2.6% to the same month a year ago, unchanged from November and in line with economist estimates.

Meanwhile, the report said the annual rate of growth by core consumer prices, which exclude food and energy prices, slowed to 2.9% in December from 3.2% in November. Economists had expected core price growth to decelerate to 3%.