European markets were mostly unchanged on Wednesday as investors adopted a cautious stance ahead of highly anticipated earnings from tech heavyweight Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA), a release widely expected to shape sentiment for the days ahead.
At 08:05 GMT, Germany’s DAX edged up 0.1%, France’s CAC 40 slipped 0.1%, and the UK’s FTSE 100 was little moved.
Nvidia results in focus
Fears over stretched valuations in AI-linked tech stocks have kept global markets on alert this week.
Nvidia, the semiconductor giant seen as the face of the artificial intelligence boom, has seen its share price surge by roughly 1,000% since late 2022, when OpenAI launched ChatGPT — propelling it past the $5 trillion market-cap milestone.
The company is set to report its latest quarterly results after the market close, and investors are waiting to see whether its guidance can live up to sky-high expectations.
In Europe, Smiths Group (LSE:SMIN) posted steady first-quarter growth and unveiled a new £1 billion share buyback that will begin once its current £500 million programme concludes.
Jet2 (LSE:JET2) reported another set of record interim results, with passenger numbers, revenue and profit all reaching new highs despite continued volatility in late bookings.
Sage Group (LSE:SGE) delivered strong full-year numbers to September 2025, with its push into AI-enhanced and cloud-based software helping underpin future growth prospects.
UK CPI cools in October
UK consumer inflation eased to 3.6% in October, down from 3.8% the previous month, boosting expectations that the Bank of England could cut interest rates at its December meeting.
The BoE held rates earlier this month in a narrow 5-4 vote, highlighting a split among policymakers that the latest inflation drop could help resolve.
More inflation updates are due later in the session, this time from the eurozone, where price growth is expected to align closely with the European Central Bank’s 2% target.
Oil edges lower as US inventories increase
Crude prices drifted lower after fresh US inventory data pointed to rising supply.
Brent fell 0.6% to $64.48 a barrel, while WTI futures were down 0.6% at $60.30.
Industry-group figures from the American Petroleum Institute showed crude stockpiles rising by 4.45 million barrels in the week to November 14. Gasoline inventories increased by 1.55 million barrels and distillates by 577,000 barrels.
Official US government data is due later on Wednesday.
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