Europe close: Stocks trade up ahead of Fed, ECB

(Sharecast News) - European markets were mostly higher on Wednesday as investors waited on the US central bank's policy announcement after the close and ahead of the European Central Bank's rate decision the next day. "Tonight's rate decision is all but guaranteed to be a hold, but the press conference will likely prove to be one of the more interesting, if only to watch Jerome Powell don his diplomatic garb once again and avoid being drawn on how the new administration's possible tariffs will affect Fed policy," said IG chief market analyst Chris Beauchamp.

"President Trump has already made it clear that he expects rates to come down, and Powell will likely have to field a number of questions on this topic."

The pan-regional Stoxx 600 reached 534.26 after a rise of 0.50% and Germany's DAX jumped 0.97% to 21,637.53.

Both indices notched up fresh record highs, unlike France's Cac-40, which drifted lower by 0.32% to 7,872.48.

The euro and Brent crude oil futures slipped, but gold edged up.

Dutch semiconductor equipment maker ASML was also in focus, after reporting better-than-expected fourth-quarter results.

Its latest quarterly numbers came amid fears that China's DeepSeek could undercut some of the big US players in the artificial intelligence space.

In economic news, consumer sentiment in Germany weakened during the month of 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.

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.