Europe midday: Shares hold gains ahead of ECB rate call; CAC 40 rallies

(Sharecast News) - European stocks held gains on Thursday as investors eyed a rate decision from the European Central Bank and CPI data from the US. The pan-regional Stoxx 600 index was up 0.33% at 554.46 at 1140 BST. French stocks shrugged off political turmoil and protests, with the CAC 40 index up 0.88%, while Germany DAX rallied to be 0.15% higher.

The ECB is not expected to make changes to its key deposit facility, currently at 2%, but traders will be looking to the latest macroeconomic projections for the eurozone and global economy.

"Stronger economic data, along with a more upbeat tone from ECB members, has been enough to silence ECB doves for now. The ECB staff economic forecasts will also be released today, including GDP and CPI forecasts," said XTB research director Kathleen Brooks.

"The 2025 GDP forecast could be revised higher, while the outlook for 2026 and beyond is complicated by a higher-than-expected tariff rate, which could weigh on future projections. The ECB is likely to show slight concern about the stickiness of core prices, especially service inflation, and core prices remain above the ECB's target rate, after service prices rose to 3.1% last month."

In the US, economists are expecting the index to rise 0.3% on the month for a year-on-year increase of 2.9%. Core CPI - which strips out volatile items like food and energy - is forecast to increase 0.3% from July and 3.1% on an annual basis.

That comes after the producer price index showed an unexpected fall of 0.1% on the month.

On the equities front, Kering shares rose after the Gucci owner said it would not fully buy Italian fashion brand Valentino until at least 2028.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com