Investors follow data, Fed minutes | Popgen Tech

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index closed down 0.6%, led by gains in travel and leisure shares, 1.9%, and mining, 1.8%.

Embattled Credit Suisse was the worst-performing stock, losing 6% after a 4 billion Swiss franc ($4.2 billion) capital increase was approved to fund its massive strategic overhaul.

German software company Nemetschek topped the index with an 8% rise. It launched a new cloud-based service on Tuesday.

— Jenny Reid

The Stoxx 600 index extended its rally in afternoon trade to its highest level since August 19.

Gains were led by mining stocks, up 1.8%, travel stocks, up 1.5%, and technology and retail stocks, both up 0.4%.

Despite recent gloomy economic data, low consumer confidence and the rising cost of living in Europe, markets brightened after a lower-than-expected US inflation reading expected a slower pace of interest rate hikes.

Meanwhile, purchasing managers’ index figures for the eurozone published on Wednesday improved slightly from the previous month.

Banking group Unicredit said the reading “dispels fears of a serious slump and is consistent with a mild technical recession by the turn of the year.”

— Jenny Reid

Shares rallied at Wednesday’s open in the last full trading day of the week. Markets will be closed Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday and will close early Friday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 98 points or 0.29%. The S&P 500 rose 0.27% and the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.45%.

—Carmen Reinicke

Shares of Nemetschek climbed 7.5% in the early afternoon after the German software company launched a new cloud-based service on Tuesday.

At the bottom of the index, Spanish power supplier Endesa fell more than 6% after new 2023-24 targets failed to excite analysts.

Beata Javorcik, Chief Economist at the EBRD, discusses the European Bank’s Energy Transition Report 2022-23.

Vincent Kaufman, chief executive of the Ethos Foundation, which represents hundreds of Swiss pension funds that are active shareholders in Credit Suisse, criticized the bank’s strategic overhaul and treatment of existing shareholders ahead of a key vote.

Bhanu Baweja, chief strategist at UBS Investment Bank, talks to CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe.”

Sven Jari Stehn, European chief economist at Goldman Sachs, says the energy crisis will push the eurozone into a “fairly shallow” recession next year. However, he adds that the region is “roughly” at peak inflation, with price increases expected to fall closer to 3% next year.

Yogi Dewan of Hassium Asset Management says it’s a good time to invest when asset prices are as low as they are.

Eurozone November flash PMI (purchasing managers’ index) readings on Wednesday reaffirmed that the 19-member currency bloc has entered recession, but the downturn in business slowed slightly.

S&P Global’s flash composite PMI, which includes services and manufacturing and is seen as a reliable measure of economic health, rose to 47.8 in November from 47.3 in October, beating projections in a Reuters poll for a resist drop to 47.0.

Any reading below 50 represents a contraction in activity, and November was the fifth straight month of contraction.

In the UK, the composite index was little changed at 48.3 in November from 48.2 in October.

“Although business expectations recovered from the 30-month low in October – which was likely linked to the improved domestic political situation – current activity remains under severe pressure due to weak confidence, cost pressures and tight financial conditions,” Berenberg economists Holger Schmieding and Kallum Pickering said in a note.

“Much like in the eurozone, companies continue to add jobs. However, as labor market activity often lags behind broader economic trends, the slowing pace of job creation is likely an ominous sign that employment will eventually begin to decline as the recession deepens through the winter.”

– Elliot Smith

Credit Suisse shareholders on Wednesday approved a capital increase of 4 billion Swiss francs ($4.2 billion) aimed at financing the embattled lender’s massive strategic overhaul.

Credit Suisse’s capital raising plans are divided into two parts. The first, backed by 92% of shareholders, grants shares to new investors, including the Saudi National Bank, via a private placement.

The new share offer will see the SNB take a 9.9% stake in Credit Suisse, making it the bank’s largest shareholder.

The second capital increase issues newly registered shares with preemptive rights to existing shareholders, and passed with 98% of the vote.

– Elliot Smith

Johnson Matthew shares fell more than 6% to the bottom of the Stoxx 600 in early trade after the British chemicals group posted a drop in half-year profit, with pressure on the supply chain weighing on production volumes for the company’s automotive customers.

At the top of the index, German entertainment company CTS Eventim added 4%.

Credit Suisse on Wednesday forecast a loss of 1.5 billion Swiss francs ($1.6 billion) in the fourth quarter as it undertakes a massive strategic overhaul.

The embattled lender announced a series of measures last month to address persistent underperformance in its investment bank and a series of risk and compliance failures that have saddled it with consistently high litigation costs.

Shareholders will vote on the bank’s restructuring and capital raising plans at an extraordinary general meeting on Wednesday.

Read the full story here.

– Elliot Smith

Britain’s FTSE 100 is seen about 12 points higher at 7,464, Germany’s DAX will add about 25 points to 14,447 and France’s CAC 40 is expected to gain about 15 points to 6,673.

Electric vehicles are rapidly gaining traction, especially in China, the largest EV market in the world.

But UBS believes autonomous driving will be an even bigger megatrend than electrification – with a market size in China alone of around $100 billion by 2030.

Here’s how investors can play this megatrend, according to UBS.

Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Zavier Ong

Electric vehicle batteries are gaining “critical importance” amid the energy transition, according to Goldman Sachs.

The investment bank names two top stocks to play the EV battery sector, giving one upside of nearly 70%.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Weizhen Tan