European Shares Hold Steady Ahead Of Key Central Bank Decisions

(RTTNews) - European stocks traded higher for the sixth straight session on Wednesday as investors digested a slew of regional data and looked ahead to interest rate decisions from the U.S. Federal Reserve and the Bank of England.

Disappointing financial results from Microsoft, Alphabet and Advanced Micro Devices kept overall gains in check.

The pan-European STOXX 600 was up 0.2 percent at 486.44 after gaining 0.2 percent on Tuesday.

The German DAX and France's CAC 40 were little changed while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was down about 0.1 percent.

Novo Nordisk shares gained 1.5 percent as the Danish pharma group forecast another year of double-digit sales and operating profit growth amid soaring demand for weight loss drug Wegovy and diabetes drug Ozempic.

Swedish retailer H&M plummeted nearly 9 percent after naming a new CEO and missing an operating profit forecast.

Spanish lender Banco Santander rose over 1 percent after an announcement that it expects profitability to improve this year.

British IT services provider FDM Group fell nearly 2 percent despite delivering a resilient performance in 2023.

Likewise, GSK fell over 1 percent despite delivering strong 2023 performance and upgrading its growth outlook.

Germany's Atoss Software jumped 4.5 percent after reporting a rise in FY23 profit and revenue.

In economic releases, official data showed German retail sales unexpectedly fell by 1.6 percent in December, supporting expectations of a recession in Q1 and fuelling bets on an ECB rate cut in April.

France's consumer price inflation rose by 3.1 percent from the same month last year after a 3.7 percent rise in December, according to provisional numbers released by national statistics agency Insee. This was lower than economists' expectations for a 3.4 percent increase.

U.K. house prices posted a monthly growth of 0.7 percent in January after staying flat in December, the Nationwide Building Society reported. This was faster than economists' forecast of 0.1 percent increase.