European shares gained on Wednesday after a bruising sell-off in the previous session, supported by healthy quarterly results from consumer giants LVMH and Adidas, while investors also kept a cautious watch on developments in the Middle East.
Traders expect the Bank of England to cut rates by 40 basis points in 2024, with the possibility of a first rate cut only in September. Adidas soared 8.6 per cent to an over two-year high, topping Germany’s blue-chip index, as the sportswear company hiked its outlook for 2024 after posting better-than-expected preliminary results for the first quarter.
Capping gains, technology stocks dropped 3.2 per cent, hauled down by ASML’s 6.7 per cent slide after Europe’s biggest tech firm reported weaker-than-expected first-quarter new bookings.Wall Street’s main indexes fell in choppy trade in the first hours of the session with chipmaker stocks among the top losers, while downbeat earnings reports from some industry majors added to the losses.