This is CNBC’s live blog covering European markets.
European markets are heading for a slightly higher open Thursday as traders digest the minutes of the last U.S. Federal Reserve meeting, which revealed Fed officials have concerns over sticky inflation and remain cautious on possible interest rate cuts.
U.K. markets will be closely watched Thursday after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced that a general election will be held on July 4, ending months of speculation over the date of a national vote. As polls stand, the ruling Conservative Party is expected to lose to the opposition center-left Labour Party.
Traders will also be keeping a close eye on the latest preliminary data from the euro zone indicating business activity in the services and manufacturing sectors in May.
Asia markets traded mixed overnight as investors reacted to the Fed minutes, while Nasdaq-100 futures rose on Wednesday evening as Wall Street assessed the latest quarterly results from market bellwether Nvidia, which posted stronger-than-expected fiscal first-quarter results.
CNBC Pro: How family offices are planning to invest now and in the next 5 years, according to UBS
Family offices have increased their investments to developed market fixed income by the largest amount seen in five years, according to a new study by UBS.
This was among one of the major shifts seen in this survey of 320 global single family offices across seven regions — the largest family office study UBS has carried out to date.
Here’s how family offices are investing this year and how they plan to change their allocations in the next five years.
CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.
— Weizhen Tan
Fed minutes affirm higher for longer
The hawkish tone of the minutes from the Federal Reserve’s latest meeting indicates “higher for longer is the official mantra,” said Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer for Independent Advisor Alliance.
“Given that rate cuts are off the table, bears would normally get excited, but because Chair Powell officially took rate hikes off the table, the market is going to fluctuate based on other factors,” Zaccarelli said.
He added that Nvidia’s earnings after the bell will dictate which direction the market moves in the coming days.
— Hakyung Kim
Fed still worried about inflation, minutes show
The minutes from the Federal Reserve’s most recent meeting showed the central bank remains concerned about U.S. inflation.
“Participants observed that while inflation had eased over the past year, in recent months there had been a lack of further progress toward the Committee’s 2 percent objective,” the summary stated. “The recent monthly data had showed significant increases in components of both goods and services price inflation.”
“Various participants mentioned a willingness to tighten policy further should risks to inflation materialize in a way that such an action became appropriate,” the minutes added.
— Fred Imbert
CNBC Pro: This global private equity stock invested in SHEIN, Figma, Databricks, Discord, and ByteDance could rise by 40%, analysts say
A diversified listed private equity investment company could see its share price rise by more than 40%, according to analysts at investment banks Peel Hunt and Jefferies.
The close-ended fund has investments in high-profile private companies such as SHEIN, Figma, Databricks, Discord, and ByteDance, the owner of TikTok, among others.
It has assets worth nearly $4bn invested in over 1,000 companies.
CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.
— Ganesh Rao
European markets: Here are the opening calls
European markets are expected to open higher Thursday.
The U.K.’s FTSE 100 index is expected to open 1 point higher at 8,369, Germany’s DAX up 4 points at 18,681, France’s CAC 14 points higher at 8,101 and Italy’s FTSE MIB up 30 points at 34,559, according to data from IG.
Earnings are set to come from Julius Baer, Acciona, Nationwide Building Society, Rolls-Royce, Aviva and Wizz Air. Preliminary euro zone services and manufacturing activity data for May is due, as are consumer confidence figures for the single currency area.
— Holly Ellyatt
