A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) at the opening bell on October 1, 2025, in New York City.
Timothy A. Clary | Afp | Getty Images
LONDON — European stocks opened higher on Thursday, building on positive momentum in the previous session.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 was 0.6% higher 10 minutes into the session, with most sectors trading in positive territory. Autos and technology stocks led gains, with their respective indexes trading 2.1% and 2.3% higher.
Market focus remains on the U.S. government shut down after Republicans — including President Donald Trump — and Democrats failed to agree on a short-term deal on government funding earlier this week.
The shutdown means September jobs data will not be released on Friday, as scheduled, clouding the outlook for the Federal Reserve just weeks ahead of its next meeting.
Still, the central bank is expected announce an interest rate cut at its Oct. 28-29 meeting after Wednesday morning’s ADP data reflected a drop in private payrolls last month, and as further ramifications of the ongoing shutdown remain to be seen.
In European corporate news, British grocery giant Tesco reported better-than-expected first-half earnings on Thursday. The company raised its guidance for the full year, saying it now expects adjusted operating profit to fall in the range of £2.9 billion and £3.1 billion ($3.9 billion and $4.2 billion). It had previously forecast annual adjusted operating profit of £2.7 billion to £3 billion.
Shares of Tesco were 1.4% higher in early trade.
Elsewhere, Deutsche Bank lowered its price target for Danish jewelry giant Pandora by 4.3% on Thursday.
“We update our forecasts, opting to put the sharp rise in the cost of silver to … through our estimates,” said Deutsche Bank’s Alison Lygo, although she noted that with a strong marketing campaign, Pandora could implement stainless steel into its product mix to offset the headwind.
Pandora’s shares were 1.1% higher shortly after the opening bell.
U.S. stock futures were little changed Wednesday night after the S&P 500 logged a fresh high and investors appeared to shrug off concerns tied to the latest U.S. government shutdown.
Overnight in Asia-Pacific markets, South Korea’s Kospi index jumped more than 3% Thursday to hit an all-time high, lifted by gains in heavyweight Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix.