European equity markets advanced on Thursday, buoyed by softer U.S. private payroll figures that strengthened expectations the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates at its meeting next week.
Investors also monitored diplomatic efforts around the Ukraine conflict. Although discussions in Moscow failed to deliver a breakthrough, attention shifted to follow-up talks scheduled in Miami today, where U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff is set to meet Ukraine’s national security chief Rustem Umerov, according to the White House.
President Trump characterized the earlier conversations — which included his son-in-law Jared Kushner — as “reasonably good,” while cautioning that it remains premature to judge the outcome because “it does take two to tango.”
Across major indices, Germany’s DAX gained about 1.0 percent, France’s CAC 40 rose 0.5 percent and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 edged up 0.2 percent.
In corporate news, Future Plc (LSE:FUTR) rallied sharply in London. After a challenging 2025 marked by softer advertising revenue and a pullback in price-comparison traffic, the media company projected “modest organic revenue growth” for the fiscal year ending September 2026.
Nokia (EU:NOKIA) also traded higher after the Finnish telecom provider revealed a new partnership with Bharti Airtel, aimed at giving developers access to Airtel’s network through Nokia’s Network as Code platform.
Construction giant Skanska (BIT:1SKAB) moved upward as well, supported by news that the Swedish firm secured another U.S. contract with a longstanding client to build a new data-center facility.
By contrast, Vodafone (LSE:VOD) slipped after its African arm agreed to acquire a controlling interest in Kenyan operator Safaricom.
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