Stock Market

European stock futures go up; in the third quarter, the U.K.’s GDP goes down by 0.3%.

Investors will look at the latest growth data from the U.K. and try to end the year on a good note, so it is likely that European stock markets will open slightly higher on Thursday.

At 02:00 ET (07:00 GMT), the DAX futures contract in Germany went up 0.1%, the CAC 40 futures contract in France went up 0.1%, and the FTSE 100 futures contract in the U.K. went up 0.3%.

As the holiday season approaches, there has been some optimism on the European markets. On Wednesday, a small improvement in consumer sentiment in Germany was followed by a rise in consumer confidence in the United States.

Related: European stock futures go up, but November retail sales in the UK are lower than expected.

This adds to the idea that the expected slowdown in the region’s economy at the beginning of 2023 might not be as bad as feared.

Still, final data released early Thursday showed that Britain’s gross domestic product grew by only 1.9% year-over-year in the third quarter, a drop of 0.3% from the second quarter. This shows that the country’s economy is heading toward the recession that the Bank of England warned about last month.

Along with the European Central Bank and the Federal Reserve, the Bank of England (BoE) raised interest rates last week. This is part of a long-term plan to stop inflation from reaching levels that haven’t been seen in 40 years.

In November, as the central bank tightened monetary policy, it warned that the U.K. could fall into the longest recession in a century.

On Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy spoke in person to the U.S. Congress to ask for more help for his country’s war effort.

In his first trip outside of Ukraine since Russia invaded the country more than 300 days ago, Zelenskiy asked for support from both sides of the political spectrum. This was especially important because the Republican Party is about to take control of the U.S. House of Representatives in early January.

Thursday was the fourth day in a row that oil prices went up. This was because data from the U.S. showed that supplies were tight in the world’s biggest consumer country before the busy holiday travel season.

In the week ending on December 16, crude oil stocks in the United States dropped by just under 6 million barrels, according to official data from the Energy Information Administration that came out on Wednesday.

Aiding the winners As the year comes to an end, a deep chill is expected to hit large parts of the United States on Thursday. Low temperatures are expected as far south as Texas and Florida, which will make more people need heating oil.

By 02:00 ET, U.S. crude futures had gone up 0.3% to $78.52 a barrel, while the Brent contract went up 0.2% to $82.34.

Related: European stock futures are getting a little bit lower, and people are turning away from risk.

Also, gold futures went down 0.1% to $1,823.45/oz, and EUR/USD went up 0.6% to 1.0646.

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