The European markets ended Thursday's session with modest gains. After struggling at the open, the market inched higher in early trade and advanced further in the afternoon following the positive open on Wall Street. Investors were focused on today's policy decision from the European Central Bank.
The European Central Bank left its key interest rates, asset purchases and forward guidance unchanged on Thursday, amid softening growth momentum in the euro area.
The Governing Council, led by ECB President Mario Draghi, left the key interest rates unchanged after the policy session in Frankfurt, in line with economists' expectations.
"The Governing Council expects the key ECB interest rates to remain at their present levels for an extended period of time, and well past the horizon of the net asset purchases," the ECB reiterated.
The bank also confirmed that the net asset purchases, at the current monthly pace of EUR 30 billion, will run until the end of September 2018, or beyond, if necessary, and in any case until the Governing Council sees a sustained adjustment in the path of inflation consistent with its inflation aim.
The pan-European Stoxx Europe 600 index advanced 0.93 percent. The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone blue chip stocks increased 0.59 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, added 0.87 percent.
The DAX of Germany climbed 0.63 percent and the CAC 40 of France rose 0.74 percent. The FTSE 100 of the U.K. gained 0.53 percent and the SMI of Switzerland finished higher by 1.08 percent.
In Frankfurt, Steinhoff International Holdings sank 13.18 percent after it announced the settlement of German litigation with Seifert entities, controlled by Andreas Seifert.
Deutsche Bank weakened by 1.23 percent, giving up some early gains. The German lender announced 'significant' job cuts after net income in the first quarter declined 79 percent.
Automaker Volkswagen Group climbed 2.17 percent after confirming its 2018 outlook.
Lufthansa fell 5.23 percent after it posted a Q1 loss on lower revenue.In Paris, telecom operator Orange gained 1.73 percent after reaffirming its 2018 outlook.
In London, Royal Dutch Shell declined 0.80 percent. The company posted strong earnings for the first quarter, but cash flow fell short of forecasts.
Taylor Wimpey fell 1.35 percent. After recording a lower order book at the start of the year, the homebuilder said it continues to see good demand for new housing through early 2018.
Barclays lost 1.41 percent after it reported that its first-quarter loss before tax was 236 million pounds, compared to profit before tax of 1.68 billion pounds last year.
Telecom equipment maker Nokia sank 0.87 percent in Helsinki after posting its fifth straight quarterly loss.
Philips Lighting tumbled 13.28 percent in Amsterdam after its first-quarter core earnings fell short of forecasts.
German consumer sentiment is set to weaken in May due to rising insecure state of geopolitics, survey data from the market research group GfK showed Thursday. The consumer climate index dropped 0.1 point to 10.8 in May. The score came in line with expectations.
UK mortgage approvals declined to a 3-month low in March, data from UK Finance showed Thursday. The number of loans approved for house purchases fell to a seasonally adjusted 37,567 in March from 38,035 in February. This was the lowest level seen since December. It was forecast to ease to 37,150.
First-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits fell to their lowest level in nearly five decades in the week ended April 21st, according to a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday.
The report said initial jobless claims dropped to 209,000, a decrease of 24,000 from the previous week's revised level of 233,000.
Economists had expected jobless claims to edge down to 230,000 from the 232,000 originally reported for the previous week.
Reflecting another jump in orders for transportation equipment, the Commerce Department released a report on Thursday showing a bigger than expected increase in new orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods in the month of March.
The Commerce Department said durable goods orders surged up by 2.6 percent in March after spiking by an upwardly revised 3.5 percent in February. Economists had expected durable goods orders to climb by 1.6 percent compared to the 3.0 percent jump that had been reported for the previous month.
For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com
Market Analysis
May 22, 2026 14:46 ET Minutes of the latest Fed policy session was the highlight of the week along with survey data on the U.S. housing market. In Europe, survey data signaled the trends in the euro area private sector. Further, consumer price inflation data from the U.K. was in focus. In Asia, various economic indicators from China drew attention to the health of the economy.