LONDON — European stock markets were higher Thursday as investors assess U.K. growth figures for the fourth quarter and monitor the flow of corporate earnings.index was up 0.7% at 3:20 p.m. in London, with major bourses and most sectors in positive territory. Construction stocks rose 1.1% as oil and gas stocks fell 1.2%.The U.K. economy contracted by 0.
"On the longer term, obviously customers are looking at the suppliers which are more reliable in delivery, what is expected of them, and we like to believe that we are improving and trying to do the right things."climbed in morning trade on Thursday, after the French carmaker said it would propose raising its dividend per share to 1.85 euros for the financial year, up from 0.25 euros previously.
"We have a global convergence of favorable regulatory activity, and what it's doing is unblocking an enormous amount of institutional capital," Paul Brody, global blockchain leader at Ernst & Young, told CNBC's "Squawk Box Asia" on Thursday. The continent's chip stocks produce the high-tech machines needed to manufacture the latest generation of chips.