European stocks are set to rebound on Thursday, taking cues from a late rally in financials and technology stocks on Wall Street overnight on optimism over economic recovery. Asian stock markets also showed notable gains on Thursday, partly due to short covering following recent losses, buoyed by an upbeat economic assessment by the U.S Fed officials.
Currently, the Dow futures are rising by 61 points after President Barack Obama's sweeping State of the Union address Wednesday, where he talked about job creation, healthcare reform and a $30 billion in bailout money to fund lending to small businesses through community banks to stabilize the world's largest economy.
Crude oil futures for March delivery also rose modestly in Asian trading to near $74 a barrel after declining to $73.67 a barrel, down $1.04 on Wednesday.
On Wall Street, the major averages managed to post modest gains on Wednesday after seeing largely lackluster movement over the course of the session. After trading lower in early trading following a drop in new home sales in December, stocks edged higher past mid-afternoon after the Federal Reserve left its key interest rates at record lows.
The Fed noted that businesses are still hesitant to add to payrolls, and while bank lending continues to remain low, "financial market conditions remain supportive of economic growth". The Dow advanced 0.4%, the Nasdaq rose 0.8% and the S&P 500 added 0.5%.
The European markets fell on Wednesday, as banking stocks slipped following disappointing quarterly results from Spanish lender BBVA and on concerns about Greece's fiscal deficit.
The FTSEurofirst 300 index of pan-European blue chips closed 0.90% lower, while the narrower DJ Stoxx 50 index fell 1.05%. Around Europe, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 index slipped 1.13%, France's CAC 40 index dropped 1.24% and Germany's DAX index fell 0.45%.
For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com
June 12, 2026 17:14 ET Major central bank action was the focus this week in economic news. The European Central Bank became the first major central bank to move in response to the rising inflationary pressures in the backdrop of the conflict in the Middle East. In North America, the U.S. inflation and trade data as well as Canada’s central bank decision gained attention. The Chinese trade data was the main news in Asia.