European Shares Mostly Higher After Biden-Xi Meeting

European stocks were broadly higher on Tuesday after a key virtual summit between U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping saw both sides signaling a stabilization in the fraught relationship.

However, there was no breakthrough on issues concerning both nations.

The pan European Stoxx 600 inched up 0.2 percent to 489.21 after rising 0.4 percent on Monday.

The German DAX and France’s CAC 40 index were also up around 0.2 percent each while the U.K.’s FTSE 100 was down 0.1 percent.

The euro was huddled at a 16-month low after European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde doubled down on her assessment that euro-area inflation will ease and conditions for a rate hike in 2022 are “very unlikely” to be met.

The British pound rose against its major counterparts as the nation’s employment rose in the third quarter, easing worries about the labor market and fueling hopes for a rate hike by the Bank of England in December.

Data from the Office for National Statistics showed that the employment rate increased 0.4 percentage points to 75.4 percent.

The unemployment rate decreased 0.5 percentage points on the quarter to 4.3 percent. The expected rate was 4.4 percent.

Vodafone jumped 5.3 percent in London. The telecoms giant raised its forecast for this year’s free cash flow after reporting strong half-yearly performance.

Premier Foods slumped 4 percent after the food manufacturer reported a fall in pretax profit in the first half of fiscal 2022.

Diageo rallied 2.3 percent. The beverage company said that it expects to grow its organic operating profit by 6-9 percent for fiscal 2023 to fiscal 2025.

Bouygues SA declined almost 2 percent in Paris. The telecommunications, media, and construction company reiterated its outlook after reporting a surge in its nine-month net profit.

Dutch tech investor Prosus NV climbed 2.5 percent after it forecast higher profit for the first half of 2022.

Nordex Group shares advanced 2 percent. The German company said it has received an order from Enerjisa Üretim -independent power plant operator in Turkey – to supply and install twelve N163/5.X turbines for the 68.4 MW Erciyes wind farm.

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