British News Agency

The pan-European Stoxx 600 was up 0.78 percent, with all major bourses and most sectors trading in the green. Tech and mining stocks jumped 2.1 percent and 2.04 percent, respectively.

The European Central Bank (ECB) slashed rates again by 25 basis points on Thursday, marking its second reduction to the deposit rate this year. However, the ECB said it was not “pre-committing” to a future path for rates.

The ECB’s key interest rate — which helps to price all sorts of loans and mortgages across the bloc — is now at 3.5 percent after years of aggressive hikes.

The ECB’s meeting comes just days ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s Sept. 17-18 meeting, at which it’s expected to begin its rate-cutting cycle.

European investors are also digesting the latest consumer price index report from the U.S., which reflected a 0.2 percent increase in consumer prices in August. This puts the annual inflation rate at 2.5 percent—its lowest level since February 2021.

However, the month—over—month core CPI—which does not include volatile food and energy prices—came out slightly hotter than expected. U.S. markets rose Wednesday as investors assessed what the data means for Fed policy.

U.S. stock futures inched lower overnight as investors braced themselves for more inflation and labour data. The August producer price index is due Thursday before jobless claims data. Economists polled by Dow Jones anticipate a rise of 0.2 percent last month in the headline and core readings, up from 0.1 percent and 0.0 percent.

Initial jobless claims data for the week ending Sept. 7 are also due. According to Dow Jones, the number is expected to have slid to 225,000, down from 227,000 the previous week.