Investing.com – European stocks gained some strength on Tuesday, as investors digest earnings results and wait for the European Central Bank’s monetary policy meeting on Thursday.
The pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 inched forward two points or 0.07% as of 5:07 AM ET (10:07 AM GMT).
On Thursday the ECB is expected to announce if it plans to continue its quantitative easing program or slowly unwind it down. The program was implemented to help stimulate growth. Employment and economic expansion across the region have some speculating that the ECB could begin normalizing its policy.
In Spain, the IBEX 35 rallied 19 points or 0.19% amid continuing political uncertainty, led by rallying bank stocks. The Catalonia government is expected to meet on Thursday to decide on a response to the central Spanish government, which has moved to impose direct rule on the region.
The biggest movers were banks Santander (MC:SAN), which rallied 0.29%, Caixabank SA (MC:CABK), which increased 0.65%, and B. Sabadell (MC:SABE), which surged 2.14%. Banking firm Bankia SA (MC:BKIA) fell 0.32%, while IT firm Indra Sistemas SA (OTC:ISMAY) decreased 0.57%.
In London, the FTSE 100 inched down three points or 0.05% with Costa coffee chain operator Whitbread (LON:WTB) decreasing 4.87% despite posting a boost in profits in the last fiscal quarter. Financial firm Provident Financial Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PROV) was also down, decreasing 2.26%.
Some of the top gainers in morning trading were education publishing firm Pearson (LON:PSON), jumped 1.44%. Bank stocks also rallied, with HSBC Holdings PLC (LON:HSBA) gaining 0.28% and Barclays (LON:BARC) increasing 0.15% while Lloyds (LON:LLOY) Bank rose 0.70%.
In Germany the DAX rose 17 points or 0.14%, with Commerzbank (DE:CBKG) one of the leading gainers, up 3.72%. Deutsche Bank (DE:DBKGn) increased 1.97% while airline firm Deutsche Lufthansa AG (DE:LHAG) increased 1.04%. Meanwhile chemical firm BASF slumped 1.12% despite reporting strong third quarter earnings.
France’s CAC 40 increased six points or 0.13%. Among the biggest gainers was financial firm Credit Agricole (PA:CAGR), which was up 1.39%. Airline maker Airbus Group SE (PA:AIR) rose 0.89% while financial services company Societe Generale (PA:SOGN) increased 0.70%.
Elsewhere retailer Carrefour (PA:CARR) fell 0.84% while IT firm Atos SE (PA:ATOS) was down 1.73%, despite an increase in its third-quarter revenue.
In commodities, gold futures fell 0.09% to $1,279.75 a troy ounce. Meanwhile crude oil futures slumped 0.50% to $51.64 a barrel ahead of the American Petroleum Institute's (API) upcoming oil inventory projections. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six other currencies, rose to 93.74.