Source: Sharecast
The Stoxx 600 finished 0.2% higher at 541.21, after two days of losses, though gains were limited. The index had dropped into negative territory shortly after lunchtime before rallying to keep its head above water by the close.
The CAC 40 jumped 1.0%, while the DAX, FTSE MIB and IBEX 35 rose between 0.4-0.5%. However, the FTSE 100 fell 0.2% as political and fiscal uncertainty in Whitehall saw government bond yields surge.
"The 10-year UK Gilt jumped by more than 25 basis points as internal tensions within the Labour party rattled investor confidence in British sovereign debt," said Axel Rudolph, senior technical analyst at IG.
"Internal tensions within the ruling Labour Party triggered a lack of investor confidence in British sovereign debt. [...] The uncertainty led traders to scale back expectations for interest rate cuts in the current quarter," Rudolph added.
In economic news, the jobless rate across the eurozone unexpectedly rose to 6.3% in May, rising from a record-low level of 6.2%, according to data out on Wednesday from Eurostat. Some 10.830m people across the single-currency region were unemployed in May, up 54,000 compared with April. Economists had expected no change in the overall unemployment rate.
Nevertheless, the unemployment rate has stayed between 6.2% and 6.3% for the past ten months, compared with the recent peak of 8.6% at the height of the Covid pandemic in the summer of 2020.
Market movers
Heavy falls in the UK housebuilding sector kept the FTSE 100 in the red on Wednesday, with Berkeley, Persimmon and Barratt Redrow dropping sharply.
British bank Natwest was also firmly out of favour after the news that Santander UK has snapped up the TSB brand and network for £2.65bn, making it the third-largest banking group in the country in terms of personal current balances. Santander shares were rising strongly in London and Madrid, while sector peer Banco de Sabadell – the current owner of TSB – surged.
Volvo was accelerating in Stockholm despite the news that sales fell sharply in June as weaker demand for EVs weighed heavily on the Swedish brand. A total of 62,858 cars were sold worldwide in June, down 12% year-on-year.
Also in Sweden, Avanza Bank surged after a report that it could be taken private by its owner.
Danish wind turbine makers Vestas and Orsted jumped on hopes the massive US tax and spending bill put forward by president Donald Trump would be less onerous on the sector than originally thought.
In Dublin, Ryanair was flying higher after reporting a 3% jump in passenger numbers for June. Traffic at the budget airline rose to 19.9m from 19.3 the year before, while the load factor held steady.