Investing.com - European stock markets traded higher Thursday, following strong gains on Wall Street on rising hopes that the Federal Reserve has completed its run of interest rate hikes.closing 1.6% higher, after investors became increasingly confident the next move in U.S. interest rates will be down, not up in the wake of the latest policy-setting meeting from the U.S. Federal Reserve.
Back in Europe, the earnings season continued, with Shell stock rising 1.2% after the oil major announced share buybacks of $3.5 billion over the next three months, up from $2.7 billion in the previous three months, and maintained its dividend even while reporting a sharp annual drop in third-quarter profit to $6.2 billion as energy prices cooled.) stock rose 6.