Peter Nurse 

Investing.com – European stock markets traded sharply higher Thursday,  with investors reacting positively to the Federal Reserve’s move to tackle inflation ahead of policy decisions by both the European Central Bank and the Bank of England.. 

At 3:45 AM ET (0845 GMT), the in Germany traded 1.8% higher, the in France rose 1.5% and the U.K.’s climbed 1.1%. 

This follows Wednesday’s announcement that the company will accelerate the withdrawal of its asset-buying programme and project three quarter-point increases in interest rates for 2022. 

It was clear that Fed policymakers felt the U.S. could handle Covid-19’s Omicron variant. They also tightened monetary policy as they tried to reduce high levels of inflation.

There’s more central bank activity in Europe Thursday, with both the and the having to strike a balance between the need to support economies threatened by the Covid-19 virus with the desire to combat inflationary pressures.

This is corporate news Boohoo LON stock plunged more than 15% and fell to a 5-year high after the British online retailer of fashion cut its guidance 2021-22 years. This was due to disruption in international deliveries as well as pandemic-related inflation.

EDF stock (PA:) fell nearly 9% after France’s energy company said it would shut down its second nuclear power plant because of safety concerns. This closures account for around 10% of the reactor capacity. Europe needs more energy and this could reduce its EBITDA by over 200 millions euros.

Telecom Italia (MII:) Stock fell 0.6% as the Italian telephone group published its third profit warning within a year. Meanwhile, it is facing a U.S. funds KKR takeover offer.

However, there are also some upsides. Valneva The stock of PA: soared more than 10% following positive clinical trials results for the Covid-19 vaccine candidate by a French biotech company. Novartis The stock price rose by 3% following the announcement of the Swiss drug giant that a new share purchaseback would be made worth as much as $15 billion and will take place before 2023 ends.

Airbus’ (PA) stock rose 3.1% as Qantas Airways selected Airbus to be its preferred supplier for replacing their domestic aircraft.

Volkswagen stock (DE:), rose 1.4%, despite Manager Magazine reporting that Volkswagen’s sales will fall to below 9,000,000 units this year due to semiconductor bottlenecks. German giant Volkswagen (DE:) had just 11. million unit sales in 2019.

Economic data in focus Thursday will center around flash December purchasing manager’s index numbers across the Eurozone and U.K., with the releases set to reflect the imposition of Covid restrictions and partial lockdowns in many regions.

After stockpiles dropped the most since September and oil prices rose on Thursday, this suggests that demand remains strong even though the Omicron version of Covid-19 virus is threatening to reduce global consumption. 

According to an Energy Information Administration report, the number of barrels consumed last week fell by 4.58 millions. The drop was much greater than what an industry report had shown on Tuesday.

U.S. crude futures had traded at $71.59/barrel, 1% more than the contract, as of 3:45 AM ET. 

The price also rose 1.3% at $1,787.35/oz and traded 0.3% higher to 1.1313.