European markets close higher as Nvidia results ease investor concerns over AI bubble

LONDON — European markets closed higher connected Thursday arsenic investors reacted to beardown net by artificial quality darling Nvidia.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 was up 0.5% by the extremity of the session, with astir bourses and sectors successful affirmative territory.

AI-related stocks were amongst those making gains, with Dutch semiconductor firms BESI and ASMI up 0.7% and 0.8%, respectively. Fellow Dutch steadfast ASML, which makes captious instrumentality for semiconductors, ended astir 0.4% higher.

A graph of the pan-European Stoxx 600 Index

Nvidia posted third-quarter results aft the doorbell connected Wednesday, topping forecasts for gross and its fourth-quarter income guidance. The chipmaker saw gross leap 62% to $57.01 cardinal year-on-year and said it expects gross of $65 cardinal successful the 4th quarter. The banal was down astir 0.9% successful midday commercialized connected Thursday.

"There's been a batch of speech astir an AI bubble," Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang told investors connected an net call. "From our vantage point, we spot thing precise different."

In Asia, spot stocks rallied successful aboriginal trading Thursday, with Samsung Electronics and Hon Hai Precision Industry, besides known arsenic Foxconn, climbing the region's indexes.

Ben Barringer, planetary caput of exertion probe and concern strategist astatine Quilter Cheviot, told CNBC's "Europe Early Edition" that Nvidia had brought alleviation successful two-parts: it bushed gross margins, which is important for semiconductor stocks, but the steadfast besides addressed marketplace concerns head-on successful its net call.

"They truly went done and benignant of tried to disprove beauteous overmuch each of the carnivore cases retired there. They talked astir scaling laws, they talked astir each the antithetic elements of demand, not conscionable hyperscaler capex, but the exemplary request that they're seeing from companies similar OpenAI and Anthropic, bundle demand, endeavor demand, sovereign AI," Barringer said.

Elsewhere, BNP Paribas precocious 4.4% connected Thursday. The French slope said it has raised its CET1 ratio people to 13% by 2027, and announced a 1.15 cardinal euro stock buyback program.

Investors were besides keeping an oculus connected defense-linked stocks aft Europe's Aerospace and Defense Index deed a two-month debased connected Wednesday and ended the time astir 1.9% lower. The moves travel arsenic elder U.S. officials from the Pentagon arrived successful Ukraine to enactment connected a bid program precocious connected Wednesday. The scale rebounded connected Thursday, ending 0.5% higher.

British favourite Greggs edged lower, down much than 2%, aft the ex-finance main astatine WH Smith Robert Moorhead pulled retired of an expected committee presumption astatine the accelerated nutrient and bakery chain. It follows an accounting probe into WH Smith, starring to the resignation of its Chief Executive Carl Cowling precocious connected Wednesday. Shares of the retailer finished down 1.8%.

With net play cooling, it's a quieter time for Europe. Investors whitethorn beryllium watching Walmart, however, which is expected to station results earlier markets unfastened successful the U.S.

Data showed connected Wednesday that the U.K.'s yearly ostentation complaint retreated to 3.6% successful October, raising the chances of a December complaint chopped from the Bank of England. It comes a week earlier the government's high stakes Autumn Budget. Sterling was small changed against the U.S. dollar overnight.