The European markets are trading moderately higher on Thursday, ahead of a two-day meeting of European policy makers that begins in Brussels. EU leaders are expected to endorse plans for "structural" assessments of national budgets and discuss a bailout for Cyprus.
On the economic front, the Swiss National Bank said it would retain the currency ceiling at 1.2 Swiss francs per euro with 'utmost determination' as an appreciation of the franc would compromise price stability. The bank also maintained its key three-month Libor unchanged at 0.0-0.25 percent.
The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks is adding 0.77 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, is gaining 0.61 percent.
The German DAX is gaining 0.7 percent and the French CAC 40 is advancing 0.6 percent. The UK's FTSE 100 and Switzerland's SMI gaining 0.3 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively.
In Frankfurt, K+S is gaining 4.2 percent. The specialty fertilizer supplier expects a positive business development for 2013, with slight increase in revenues and operating earnings.
Lufthansa is gaining 3.5 percent. The aviation group reported a turnaround to profit in full-year 2012, as revenues grew about 5 percent with contributions from nearly all of its companies.
HeidelbergCement is climbing 2.8 percent. The firm looks to increase revenue and operating income in 2013.
Deutsche Wohnen is gaining 4.1 percent. The stock was upgraded to ''Buy'' from ''Neutral'' at Goldman Sachs.
GSW Immobilien is advancing 1.7 percent, following a broker upgrade.
Clothing and footwear firm Hugo Boss, which reported higher quarterly profit, is losing 2.3 percent. The stock was downgraded at Commerzbank.
Volkswagen is losing 2.7 percent. The carmaker aims operating profit for 2013 to match the prior-year level.
Peer BMW reported higher profit for the fourth quarter and hiked its dividend. The stock is down 0.9 percent.
Commerzbank is losing 2.4 percent. Kepler cut the stock to ''Reduce'' from ''Buy.''
In Paris, France Telecom is gaining 2.6 percent, thus leading the gainers.
BNP Paribas is climbing 1.8 percent. Societe Generale and BNP Paribas are in positive territory.
Tire maker Michelin is falling around 2 percent and retailer Carrefour is losing 0.8 percent.
In London, Aggreko is surging 7.3 percent. The temporary power provider signed power purchase agreements to supply 122 MW of gas-fuelled power to Mozambique and Namibia.
Prudential is gaining 4.5 percent. Standard Chartered is rising 2.2 percent.
Home Retail is climbing 11 percent after lifting its full year forecast.
WM Morrison is gaining over 1 percent. The food retailer reported lower profit for the year, but confirmed it is in talks with online supermarket Ocado Group that may lead to an agreement to license some of Ocado's existing and future intellectual property and operating knowledge for Morrison to commence an online grocery business in the UK. Ocado is climbing 17.2 percent.
Booker Group is climbing close to 8 percent after Competition Commission provisionally cleared its purchase of Makro.
Thomas Cook is surging 13 percent after Barclays raised its rating on the stock.
Assicurazioni Generali is climbing over 7 percent in Milan.
Eni is advancing 1.6 percent. The oil and gas firm and Petrochina Company Limited signed an agreement for Eni's sale of 28.57 percent of Eni East Africa's shares. The agreed price is equal to $4.210 billion.
OC Oerlikon is declining 4 percent in Zurich. The firm said its CEO Dr. Michael Buscher would leave the company.
Across Asia/Pacific, markets ended mixed amid concerns over China's property tightening measures.
Australia's All Ordinaries retreated 1.2 percent, as weaker commodity prices on concerns China is tightening liquidity weighed on miners while China's Shanghai Composite Index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng managed to advance 0.3 percent each on bargain hunting.
Japan's Nikkei 225 climbed 1.2 percent, led by financial and realty firms on expectations of aggressive BOJ stimulus after Haruhiko Kuroda was approved by lower house of parliament to become Bank of Japan governor.
In the U.S., futures point to a higher open on Wall Street. In the previous session, stocks recovered from an early move to the downside to end the day just above the unchanged line. The Dow inched up less than a tenth of a percent, the Nasdaq crept up 0.1 percent and the S&P 500 edged up 0.1 percent.
In the commodity space, crude for April delivery is losing $0.40 to $92.12 per barrel while April gold is losing $9.3 to $1579.6 a troy ounce.
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Market Analysis
December 12, 2025 15:14 ET Central bank decisions dominated the economic news flow this week led by the Federal Reserve. Trade data from the U.S. also gained attention. The Canadian and Swiss central banks also announced their interest rate decisions. Inflation data from China was in focus as the country released the latest consumer price and producer price data.