European stocks traded in a subdued manner Wednesday, with investors holding breath ahead of the release of earnings from tech giant Nvidia, which could determine sentiment going forward.
At 03:05 ET (08:05 GMT), the DAX index in Germany gained 0.1%, while the CAC 40 in France slipped 0.1% and the FTSE 100 in the U.K. traded largely unchanged.
Nvidia’s results loom large Global markets have been on edge this week with concerns over AI-related tech stocks and valuations returning to the fore.
Semiconductor giant Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) is widely seen as the poster child of the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, with its stock price having soared by roughly 1,000% since the launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot in late 2022, making the company the first to surpass $5 trillion in market value.
Its latest quarterly results are scheduled to be unveiled after the close, and investors are cautiously waiting to see if Nvidia’s outlook can match lofty expectations.
Back in Europe, Smiths Group (LON:SMIN) paired steady first-quarter growth with a new £1 billion share buyback program, set to begin after the engineering company completes its ongoing £500 million repurchase.
Low-cost airline Jet2 (LON:JET2) delivered another set of record interim results, with passenger numbers, revenue and profitability all hitting new highs despite a volatile, late-booking market.
Enterprise software company Sage Group (LON:SGE) reported strong financial results for the year ending September 2025, with the company’s strategic focus on AI and cloud solutions positioning it well for future growth.
3rd party Ad. Not an offer or recommendation by Investing.com. See disclosure here or remove ads. U.K. CPI falls in October The U.K. consumer inflation rate fell to 3.6% in October, falling from the 18-month high of 3.8% seen in September, increasing the likelihood that the Bank of England cuts interest rates next month.
The BoE paused its quarterly pace of rate cuts earlier this month, with inflation remaining elevated and ahead of finance minister Rachel Reeves’s annual budget on November 26.
However, policymakers voted just 5-4 to hold rates unchanged, suggesting that the fall in inflation could tip the balance towards easing monetary policy in December.
There is more inflation data due later in the session, this time from the eurozone.
This is expected to show that the region’s consumer prices rose just 0.2% on the month, an annual gain of 2.1%, more or less in line with the European Central Bank’s 2.0% target.
Higher U.S. crude inventories hits crude Oil prices slipped lower as higher crude inventories in the U.S., the world’s biggest crude consumer, reinforced concerns of oversupply.
Brent futures dropped 0.6% to $64.48 a barrel, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell 0.6% to $60.30 a barrel.
Data released Tuesday by the industry body American Petroleum Institute showed that crude stocks rose by 4.45 million barrels in the week ended November 14, while gasoline inventories climbed by 1.55 million barrels and distillate inventories increased by 577,000 barrels. Official U.S. government inventory data will be released later on Wednesday.
