{"id":68731,"date":"2026-01-15T18:10:40","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T18:10:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pantheregroup.com\/2026\/01\/15\/european-stocks-closed-broadly-higher-on-easing-geopolitical-tensions-some-positive-data\/"},"modified":"2026-01-15T18:10:40","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T18:10:40","slug":"european-stocks-closed-broadly-higher-on-easing-geopolitical-tensions-some-positive-data","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pantheregroup.com\/2026\/01\/15\/european-stocks-closed-broadly-higher-on-easing-geopolitical-tensions-some-positive-data\/","title":{"rendered":"European Stocks Closed Broadly Higher On Easing Geopolitical Tensions, Some Positive Data"},"content":{"rendered":"
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European stocks closed broadly higher on Thursday as easing geopolitical and Fed independence concerns, some positive economic data and upbeat earnings updates from TSMC helped underpin sentiment.<\/p>\n

Fears of an imminent U.S. action against Iran ebbed as U.S. President Donald Trump appeared to soften rhetoric against Iran.<\/p>\n

Trump said he had received information “on good authority” that Iran has stayed fast trials and executions of protesters, signaling he may hold off on attacking the country for now.<\/p>\n

Trump expressed optimism about reaching an agreement on Greenland, following high-level meetings between U.S. officials and Danish and Greenlandic foreign ministers.<\/p>\n

On the U.S. homefront, Trump told Reuters in an interview that he has no plans to fire Jerome Powell, but it was “too early” to say what he would ultimately do.<\/p>\n

The pan European Stoxx 600 climbed 0.49%. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 gained 0.54% and Germany’s DAX ended higher by 0.26% and France’s CAC 40 closed down by 0.21%, while Switzerland’s SMI edged up 0.09%.<\/p>\n

Among other markets<\/span> in Europe, Belgium, Czech Republic, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Sweden and Turkey closed higher.<\/p>\n

Norway edged up marginally. Denmark and Spain ended weak, while Russia settled flat.<\/p>\n

In the UK market, 3i Group soared more than 10%.<\/p>\n

Schroders zoomed nearly 10% after the company said it expects annual profits for 2025 to be ahead of market expectations.<\/p>\n

Smiths Group, Persimmon and LondonMetricProperty gained 4.2%, 4.1% and 3.7%, respectively. ICG, Spirax Group, Centrica, Antofagasta, St. James’s Place, IMI, British American Tobacco, Polar Capital Technology Trust, Segro and Marks & Spencer gained 2 to 3%.<\/p>\n

Burberry Group, AstraZeneca, GSK, Compass Group, BT Group, The Sage Group, BP, Endeavour Mining, Haleon and Unilever ended notably lower.<\/p>\n

In the German market, RWE climbed nearly 3%. Vonovia, Daimler Truck Holding, Siemens Energy, Heidelberg Materials, Merck, Adidas, Gea Group, E.ON, BASF, Deutsche Post and Brenntag gained 1 to 2.5%.<\/p>\n

Fresenius closed lower by about 4.2%. Commerzbank lost 2.8% and Mercedes-Benz drifted lower by 2.1%. Deutsche Telekom and Porsche Automobil Holding also ended notably lower.<\/p>\n

In the French market, Bureau Veritas, Schneider Electric, Carrefour, EssilorLuxottica, Legrand, Eurofins Scientific, Accor and Dassault Systemes gained 0.8 to 1.7%.<\/p>\n

Thales ended down by nearly 3% following a rating downgrade of the stock by Deutsche Bank. <\/p>\n

Kering, Capgemini, LVMH, Stellantis and Sanofi lost 1 to 3.3%.<\/p>\n

Data from the federal Statistical office Destatis said Germany’s GDP expanded by 0.2% in 2025, rebounding from a 0.5% contraction in 2024, according to preliminary estimates. Manufacturing output fell for the third consecutive year, and construction also faced another difficult year, while the services sector showed a mixed picture.<\/p>\n

A separate date from Destatis showed Germany’s wholesale prices rose 1.2% yoy in December 2025, easing from a 1.5% growth in the previous month, which had marked the fastest rate since February. On a monthly basis, wholesale prices fell 0.2%, reversing gains of 0.3% in each of the prior two months.<\/p>\n

Final data from the statistical office INSEE showed France’s inflation weakened slightly at the end of the year, as estimated, primarily due to sharper fall in energy prices.<\/p>\n

The consumer price index posted an annual increase of 0.8%, following November’s 0.9% rise. The statistical office confirmed that inflation eased to the slowest since May, when the rate was 0.7%.<\/p>\n

EU harmonized inflation also slowed to 0.7%, as estimated, from 0.8% in November.<\/p>\n

On a monthly basis, both the CPI and the HICP moved up 0.1% each, reversing previous month’s 0.2% drop.<\/p>\n

Data showed UK’s gross domestic product logged a monthly growth of 0.3% in November, reversing a 0.1% drop in October. Analysts had expected GDP to grow marginally by 0.1%.<\/p>\n

A separate data from the government showed U.K.’s trade deficit narrowed to GBP 23.7 billion in November from GBP 24.2 billion in the previous month. The shortfall, however, was bigger than forecast of GBP 20.3 billion. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n