European stocks snapped two days of declines – Europe Market Wrap

Amid expectations that US restrictions on semiconductor equipment sales to China could be less severe than anticipated, European markets ended two days of losses, with technology driving the advance.

According to news reports, further restrictions the US is imposing on Chinese sales of semiconductor equipment an d AI memory chips would fall short of certain more stringent steps that were previously contemplated. ASML, VAT, and Aixtron, among other semiconductor-related stocks, drove a 0.4% increase in the STOXX 600 index.

US equity futures ticked higher, with no cash trading later due to the Thanksgiving holiday. Trading in Treasuries is shut.

The country’s stocks and bonds were affected by political unrest in France, and for the first time ever, benchmark French bond yields of 3% matched Greek levels. The country’s stocks are expected to do worse than their European counterparts since 2010 as a budget impasse threatens to overthrow the government.

Following Finance Minister Antoine Armand’s announcement that he is willing to make compromises on the 2025 budget, French bonds rose, but this did nothing to support months of poor performance.

RBA’s Gov. Bullock: Underlying inflation is still too high to consider a near-term rate cut. [AUD strengthened]