European equities ended positively on Thursday, buoyed by gains in US indices following stronger-than-expected American jobless claims and producer price figures. Madrid’s IBEX led regional gains (+1.15%), outpacing Milan’s FTSE MIB (+1%), Frankfurt’s DAX (+0.83%), Paris’s CAC 40 (+0.75%), while London’s FTSE 100 dipped marginally (-0.05%).
The yield spread between Italian and German 10-year government bonds widened to 77.6 basis points, with Italy’s annual yield rising 3.3 basis points to 3.48% and Germany’s climbing 2.8 basis points to 2.7%.
Commodity movements saw crude oil advance (WTI +1.28% to $63.45/barrel), while natural gas retreated (-1.04% to €32.27/MWh) and gold declined (-0.52% to $3,337.34/ounce). The dollar strengthened to $1.164/€ and $1.354/£, while Bitcoin extended losses (-1.92% to $118,717).
Ferrari surged 3.62% after Baptista Research upgraded the stock to “outperform.” Stellantis gained moderately (+0.48%), whereas Renault slipped 0.25%. Energy majors Shell (-1.3%) and BP (-1.15%) underperformed, with TotalEnergies and Eni both edging down 0.1%. Banking stocks showed strength with BBVA (+2.15%), NatWest (+2% after William O’Neil endorsement), and Commerzbank (+1.95%) leading. Intesa Sanpaolo rose 1.45%, followed by UniCredit (+0.75%), Mediobanca (+0.6%), and Banco BPM (+0.46%). Popolare Sondrio (-0.8%), BPER (-0.5%), and Monte dei Paschi (-0.17%) closed weaker.