Europe midday: Stoxx, DAX hit new records ahead of Fed rate call

(Sharecast News) - European markets hit more records on Wednesday with ASML in focus as the Dutch semiconductor equipment maker reported better than expected fourth-quarter results amid fears that China's DeepSeek could undercut the big US players in the artificial intelligence race. The pan-regional Stoxx 600 reached 535.46 before settling back to 535.22. Germany's DAX also skipped off to a new intra-day high of 21,615.70 before easing to 21,604..

''Calm has descended on financial markets after the AI upheaval, which triggered a wave of selling, with investors seeing sharp falls as a buying opportunity," said Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Susannah Streeter.

"Focus is switching to today's key Fed meeting and the direction of interest rates in the US. Rates being kept on hold is seen as a slam dunk prospect but there will be keen interest in chairman Jerome Powell's words about the future path ahead, particularly given recent jitters about the prospects of a rate hike this year, which still right now looks unlikely."

In economic news, eyes will be on a rate decision from the US Federal reserve and the European Central Bank on Thursday.

Meanwhile in Germany, consumer sentiment weakened in January, according to a widely-read survey published on Wednesday.

The consumer sentiment index, published by GfK and the Nuremberg Institute for Market Decisions (NIM), fell to -22.4 points from -21.4 points the month before and expectations of a reading of -20.0.

On the equities front ASML shares surged as the company said net sales and profit for the fourth quarter beat forecasts, while net bookings, a key indicator of order demand, rose 169% from the previous quarter. The news also boosted ASM and BE Semiconductor.

Shares in LVMH were lower despite the world's largest luxury company outperforming sales forecasts in earnings published late on Tuesday. Christian Dior, Moncler, Kering and L'Oreal were also down.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com