France’s Prime Minister Michel Barnier ponders during a session of questions to the government at the National Assembly in Paris, on December 3, 2024.
This was CNBC's live blog covering European markets.
LONDON — European stocks closed higher on Thursday, with French markets in focus after Prime Minister Michel Barnier's government was toppled in a vote of no-confidence Wednesday.
The regional Stoxx 600 maintained the positive momentum of the past five sessions despite the volatility, provisionally ending the day 0.43% higher. Banks and travel stocks both closed up by more than 2%, while oil and gas stocks fell 0.35%.
French stocks on the CAC 40 index closed 0.4% higher after trading at its highest level since Nov. 12 earlier in the session, while the euro was 0.55% higher against the U.S. dollar.
A majority of lawmakers from both the left-wing New Popular Front alliance and the far-right National Rally supported a no-confidence motion in the country's lower house Wednesday evening, as was expected.
"What probably reassures markets to some extent right now is there is not going to be anything like a government shutdown in France. The parties which voted against the government said they would vote against the special rule which would normally roll over the Budget for next year. So there is no immediate threat, I would say," Gilles Moec, group chief economist at Axa, told CNBC's "Squawk Box Europe."
Ahead of the open, the U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority approved a merger between telecoms firms Vodafone and Three, subject to conditions. Vodafone shares ended the day around 2.5% higher.
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Oil major Shell and Norway's Equinor, meanwhile, announced plans to combine their British offshore oil and gas assets to create a jointly owned energy company in Aberdeen, Scotland, set to become the U.K. North Sea's largest independent producer.
Elsewhere overnight, Asia-Pacific markets traded mixed after Wall Street stock benchmarks notched record highs yesterday. U.S. stocks were relatively unchanged on Thursday following a record day for equities, while bitcoin also reached all-time highs.
Europe markets end the day in the green
European markets broadly ended the trading session in positive territory on Thursday.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 closed 0.4% higher with banks, and travel and leisure leading gains.
The U.K.'s FTSE 100 closed slightly higher, adding 0.16%, while the French CAC 40 ended up 0.4% and Germany's DAX closed 0.7% higher after trading at record highs earlier in the week.
- April Roach
France is currently paying more than Spain for its debt, says economist
Gilles Moec, group chief economist at Axa, discusses the outlook for French markets amid the collapse of Prime Minister Michel Barnier's government.
Moec told CNBC's Squawk Box Europe on Thursday that it's "quite striking" to see that France is better treated than Spain by rating agencies.
- April Roach
Stocks open little changed
Stocks opened little changed on Thursday morning.
Both the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average were trading around the flatline shortly after 9:30 a.m. ET. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 0.1%.
— Lisa Kailai Han
Shell and Equinor's combined North Sea oil and gas portfolio will improve margins, Equinor exec says
Shell and Norway's Equinor are merging their British offshore oil and gas assets in a jointly-owned energy company to create a stronger portfolio and improve margins, Camilla Salthe, senior vice president of U.K. head of upstream at Equinor, told CNBC's Silvia Amaro.
"The reason we are doing this, to create this company 50-50 with Shell and Equinor, is because we really believe we are combining our portfolios and they will be much stronger," Salthe said.
"By developing new ways of working we can actually really develop work processes that will really improve margins so we can actually have long-term value creation from these assets, so that is the key business rationale for doing this."
Analysts led by Biraj Borkhataria at RBC Capital Markets said they expect "tax synergies" to be a significant factor in the combination of the North Sea oil and gas assets.
Shell shares were 1% lower at 1:33 p.m. London time.
— Jenni Reid, Sam Meredith
Crypto stocks jump as bitcoin tops $100,000
Crypto-related stocks jumped in premarket trading Thursday, as bitcoin traded above $100,000 for the first time.
MicroStrategy advanced more than 6%, while Robinhood and Riot Platforms advanced more than 4% each. Mara Holdings was up 5.5%, and Coinbase gained 3%.
— Fred Imbert
A challenging 2025 awaits British firms, survey reports
British firms are heading toward a tough 2025, the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) said in its Quarterly Economic Forecast.
The BCC revised its U.K. growth outlook upwards for the next two years, as increased government spending boosting growth prospects. But business investment and trade are likely to suffer from rising employment costs and a possible tariff war, the BCC reported in a Tuesday statement.
"With fears of a tariff war and continued trade barriers with the EU, international trade will be challenging for many firms," said David Bharier, the BCC's head of research.
U.K. growth is forecasted to pickup from 0.8% in 2024 to 1.3% in 2025 and 1.5% in 2026. Meanwhile unemployment figures have been revised upwards to 4.5% next year, before falling to 4.2% in 2026.
— Abby Ryanto
Vodafone-Three merger to give the UK the digital infrastructure it deserves, Vodafone CEO says
"[The merger] will benefit consumers and businesses up and down the country, and will finally give the U.K. the digital infrastructure it truly deserves," said Margherita Della Valle, the CEO of Vodafone.
Della Valle added that despite the merger, competition and costs will not change.
"What is going to change is that these brands will now be able to rely on much better infrastructure as we move the U.K. from, let's face it, a position of laggard digital infrastructure even within Europe, to a leadership position with the best in class 5G network," Della Valle said.
The CMA [Competition and Markets Authority] on Thursday greenlighted a merger between Vodafone and Three. The deal is allowed to go ahead if both firms enter "binding commitments to invest billions" to roll out a combined 5G network across the U.K.
The merger is set to be formally completed in the first half of 2025.
Read the full story here.
— Abby Ryanto
France's CAC 40 hits 3-week high amid political uncertainty
French markets open in the green despite ongoing political uncertainty following the collapse of Prime Minister Michel Barnier's government.
"The market has already gone further than ratings agencies... What I think is interesting is that there hasn't been much movement the last few days on the spread, because a lot of these developments were priced last week," Gilles Moec, group chief economist at Axa, told CNBC's "Squawk Box Europe" on Thursday.
"What probably reassures markets to some extent right now is there is not going to be anything like a government shutdown in France," Moec added, saying that investors are already assuming there will be early elections in the middle of next year, once it becomes constitutionally possible again.
French 10-year bond yields were trading around 1 basis point higher at 9:41 a.m. London time at 2.904. The CAC 40 was 0.31% higher, trading around 7325 points.
"There is an issue obviously around the number of bonds that France will emit in the years ahead because the deficit remains too high," Moec said. "But it's not as dramatic, at first glance, an alliance would probably conclude to."
— Abby Ryanto
Europe stocks open mixed
European stock markets opened mixed on Thursday as investors assessed political uncertainty in France.
France's CAC 40 was up 0.13% at 8:11 a.m. in London, while Germany's DAX gained 0.06%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 slipped 0.05%.
— Jenni Reid
France faces bond market jitters but it is not Greece in 2010, economist says
France is facing an unsustainable debt trajectory and higher bond yields, but its situation is not the same as the Greek sovereign debt crisis of 2010, according to George Lagarias, chief economist at Forvis Mazars.
"France is not insolvent to begin with, A, and B, big countries, G7 countries, they don't get debt crises in the 21st century. This is the purview of smaller countries. Greece was insolvent way before any of that happened," Lagarias told CNBC's "Squawk Box Europe."
France has faced months of political instability since its snap summer election, and its minority government was ousted in a no-confidence vote on Wednesday.
French borrowing costs have risen to a 12-year high against Germany's amid concerns that it will not be able to pass a budget to reduce its deficit, while its bond yields drew level with Greece's for the first time on record. That was seen by analysts as a symbolic milestone, given France's stronger fundamentals and Greece's turbulent market history, which saw its bonds downgraded to junk status in 2010 and subsequent bailouts.
"France is going through something, it's political tumult... There might be some jitters in the bond markets, because bond markets are really upset about inflation and tariffs and all that. So, you know, some of that could seep into the bond markets going forward, some of that uncertainty. But France is not Greece," Lagarias said.
"We have to acknowledge it's not the euro zone crisis, [countries] can borrow their way out of trouble, just not at the pace that they're used to. We have debt acceleration, and that happens everywhere in the world right now. The U.S. is the primary culprit."
— Jenni Reid
Shell and Equinor to create Britain’s largest independent oil and gas company in joint venture
Oil major Shell and Norway's Equinor on Thursday announced plans to combine their British offshore oil and gas assets to create a jointly owned energy company.
Read the full story here.
— Sam Meredith
UK regulator clears Vodafone-Three merger
The U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority on Monday approved the merger of telecom firms Vodafone and Three.
The CMA set several conditions for the £15 billion ($19.5 billion) deal, including that the companies commit to investing billions to roll out a combined 5G network across the U.K.
The organization had previously raised concerns the combined entity would lead to price increases for tens of millions of customers or see some users get reduced services.
Read the full story here.
— Jenni Reid
Bitcoin tops $100,000 for the first time ever
The price of bitcoin soared past the long-awaited $100,000 benchmark for the first time ever late Wednesday evening.
The flagship cryptocurrency was last higher by more than 7% at $102,879.60, according to Coin Metrics. Earlier, it rose as high as $103,844.05.
The move came hours after President-elect Donald Trump announced plans to nominate Paul Atkins as chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission. The same day, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said bitcoin was "just like gold only it's virtual, it's digital," speaking at the DealBook conference.
For more on bitcoin's historic milestone read our full story here.
— Tanaya Macheel
CNBC Pro: 'It is key to remain invested,' Julius Baer portfolio manager says. Here's how she's investing
The persistent uncertainty in financial markets has raised questions on portfolio construction and how to invest across asset classes as 2025 nears.
One long-term investor is now playing the market by staying invested and being well-diversified.
"We believe it is key to remain invested and view any potential corrections as technical and temporary opportunities to get into the market," Julius Baer International's portfolio manager Aneka Beneby said.
She also revealed how and what she is allocating to in the lead up to the new year.
CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.
— Amala Balakrishner
European markets: Here are the opening calls
European markets are expected to open lower Thursday.
The U.K.'s FTSE 100 index is expected to open 17 points lower at 8,342, Germany's DAX down 7 points at 20,225, France's CAC down 28 points at 7,275 and Italy's FTSE MIB down 82 points at 33,747, according to data from IG.
There are no major earnings or data releases in Europe Thursday.
— Holly Ellyatt
