{"id":70036,"date":"2026-02-17T18:42:26","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T18:42:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pantheregroup.com\/2026\/02\/17\/european-stocks-close-mostly-higher-10\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T18:42:26","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T18:42:26","slug":"european-stocks-close-mostly-higher-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pantheregroup.com\/2026\/02\/17\/european-stocks-close-mostly-higher-10\/","title":{"rendered":"European Stocks Close Mostly Higher"},"content":{"rendered":"
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European stocks closed mostly higher on Tuesday with the mood largely staying positive right through the day’s session amid hopes of some monetary easing by a few central banks, including the Bank of England. Investors continued to follow geopolitical news and awaited fresh data from the U.S. for directional clues.<\/p>\n

Data showing an increase in UK’s unemployment rate raised expectations of another rate cut by the Bank of England.<\/p>\n

The pan European Stoxx 600 gained 0.45%. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 climbed 0.79%, Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 ended up by 0.80% and 0.54%, respectively. Switzerland’s SMI moved up 0.71%.<\/p>\n

Among other markets<\/span> in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, Spain and Sweden ended with solid gains.<\/p>\n

Czech Republic and Portugal edged up marginally, while Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Russia and T\u00fcrkiye closed weak. <\/p>\n

Defense stocks showed some weakness amid hopes of a de-escalation in U.S.-Iran tensions ahead of nuclear talks in Geneva.<\/p>\n

In the UK market, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, Barratt Redrow, Airtel Africa, Pearson, Compass Group, Barclays, RightMove, British Land Co., Diploma, Entain, AstraZeneca, Experian, Land Securities, Relx, Hikma Pharmaceuticals and Legal & General gained 2%-3.5%.<\/p>\n

GSK moved up more than 2.5% after launching a \u00a32 billion share buyback program.<\/p>\n

Miners Endeavour Mining, Antofagasta, Anglo American Plc and Fresnillo fell 2%-4%. Glencore drifted down 1.4%.<\/p>\n

Weir Group, Marks & Spencer, 3i Group, BP, Metlen Energy & Metals, Beazley and LSEG ended weak.<\/p>\n

In the German market, Bayer soared more than 8%. Vonovia and Infineon gained about 4% and 3.25%, respectively. Mercedes-Benz, RWE, Zalando, Fresenius, Gea Group, Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank, Fresenius Medical Care, Adidas, Volkswagen, Munich RE, Heidelberg Materials, Scout24 and Brenntag climbed 1%-2.2%.<\/p>\n

Qiagen ended down 3.7%. Siemens Energy and Daimler Truck Holding also declined sharply.<\/p>\n

In the French market, Dassault Systemes climbed about 4%. Unibail Rodamco, AXA, Societe Generale, Eurofins Scientific and Edenred gained 2%-3%.<\/p>\n

LVMH, Capgemini, BNP Paribas, L’Oreal, Renault, Accor, Bureau Veritas, Sanofi and Kering also posted strong gains.<\/p>\n

Carrefour, Thales, Stellantis, Schneider Electric, EssilorLuxottica, Orange, Bouygues, Veolia Environment, Publicis Groupe and Michelin closed weak.<\/p>\n

Destatis confirmed that German consumer price inflation rebounded to 2.1% in January from 1.8% in December because of higher food and services costs.<\/p>\n

On a monthly basis, the consumer price index edged up 0.1%, as estimated, after remaining flat in December. Meanwhile, the harmonized index of consumer prices fell 0.1%, also matching the initial estimate.<\/p>\n

EU harmonized inflation accelerated to 2.1% from 2% in the prior month, matching the earlier estimate published on January 30.<\/p>\n

A report from the Centre for European Economic Research said Germany’s ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment slipped to 58.3 in February 2026 from January’s more than four-year high of 59.6, falling short of market expectations of 65. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the assessment of current conditions continued to improve, with the situation index rising to -65.9.<\/p>\n

Official data showed the U.K. jobless rate rose to 5.2% in the fourth quarter from 5.1% in the preceding period.<\/p>\n

Annual growth in employees’ average earnings including bonus was 4.2% but weaker than the forecast of 4.6%. In January, payroll employees decreased 11,000 from the previous month to 30.3 million. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Market Analysis<\/p>\n<\/div>\n