Peter Nurse 

Investor.com – European stock market traded mixed Thursday as investors awaited a meeting of the European Central Bank to set policy.

By 3:30 AM ET (0730 GMT), the in Germany traded 0.3% higher, the in France rose 0.6%, while the U.K.’s dropped 0.3%.

On Thursday, the will be under the spotlight as the policymakers gather to discuss the future of monetary policies against the backdrop of record high inflation and fears about a recession caused by war.

The ECB is planning to stop buying emergency bonds in the third quarter. Interest rates will rise “sometime” thereafter. But, investors will look to see if the central banking provides an easier schedule for dewinding the extraordinary stimulus.

European markets received positive feedback from Wall Street on Thursday as lower U.S. Treasury yields allowed interest-sensitive growth stocks to close significantly higher. 

However, market optimism and geopolitical risk limit any potential gains. On Wednesday, Ukraine warned of a Russian invasion in the East of the country. Meanwhile, the U.S. president Joe Biden has announced additional military aid of $800 million.

Ericsson (BSI:) shares plunged more than 8 percent in corporate stocks after Ericsson, a Swedish telecoms equipment maker claimed that earnings dropped during its first quarter. It also hinted at further financial losses as the company withdrew from Russia and was subject to a renewed U.S. penalty for violating sanctions. 

The stock of Publicis (PA) rose 1.2% following the beating of market expectations by the third largest advertising agency in the world. Hermes (PA) rose 2.3% as a result of strong demand for accessories in France, especially in the United States.

The stock of Dunelm (LON) rose 2.5% following strong third-quarter sales. It was helped by the reopening stores in Britain after coronavirus curbs were lifted.

Oil prices edged lower Thursday, handing back some of the week’s substantial gains after the release of a larger-than-expected build in inventories.

The released data Wednesday showed that the U.S. oil stock rose by more than 9,000,000 barrels last week. This is significantly more than was expected and despite the fact that U.S. gasoline inventories fell by 3.6 million barrels.

However, the benchmarks have risen by well over 7 percent over the course the week due to worries about tightening the global supply.

Wednesday’s warning by the International Energy Agency was that around 3,000,000 barrels of Russian oil per day could be shut down due to voluntary or sanctioned embargoes.

U.S. crude futures had fallen 0.9% at $107.81 by 3:00 AM ET. 

Also, the price of gold fell 0.5% at $1,974.30/oz while it traded 0.2% higher to 1.0907.