European stocks were cautiously higher Thursday as investors assessed commentary from leading central bankers on the need to continue the fight against inflation.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 nudged 0.3% higher by late morning, with retail stocks adding 1.7% to lead gains while travel and leisure stocks fell 0.4%.
A further message from the conference this week has been on market pricing of swift interest rate cuts from the ECB.
The Stoxx 600 closed 0.7% higher Wednesday after staging a cautious turnaround from six straight negative sessions on Tuesday.
U.S. futures were slightly higher as banks rose after passing the Federal Reserve's annual stress test.
Persons:
Christine Lagarde, Andrew Bailey, Jerome Powell, Powell, Lagarde, England's Bailey, Philip Lane, Chipmakers
Organizations:
CNBC, European Central Bank, Wednesday, Bank of England, Federal, ECB, Journal
Locations:
Sintra , Portugal, U.S, China, Asia, Pacific