European Midday Briefing: Shares Up as Investors Weigh Earnings, Fed's Decision

MARKET WRAPS

Stocks:

European shares were mostly up Thursday as investors weighed earnings results and the Federal Reserve's decision to keep rates unchanged.

Oil prices extended the previous session's gains after U.S. forces launched strikes against Iran in response to Tuesday's surprise attack in Jordan.

Investors were also continuing to absorb the fallout from Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh's press conference on Wednesday.

Warsh's approach of eschewing any form of forward guidance makes it extremely difficult for the markets to form a coherent analysis of Fed policy, MainSky Asset Management said.

" Markets will have to get used to this style of communication ; the resulting high level of uncertainty acts as a drag on equities and long-term bonds, as well as the U.S. dollar," it added.

Meanwhile, tech stocks largely steadied after days of heavy selling, with results from Korean memory-chip maker Samsung Electronics encouraging investors that the artificial-intelligence boom has longer to run.

In the U.K., the Bank Of England is expected to keep rates unchanged, with the focus on any clues about whether it will raise rates in future.

The BOE probably won't suggest a rate rise is possible in September , keeping its statements vague, Commerzbank said. Inflation is recently somewhat subdued, the economic upturn is fragile and Iran war uncertainty has increased.

U.S. Markets:

Stock futures were up Thursday after the Fed left rates unchanged while Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh provided little clues about future policy.

Forex:

The dollar recovered after reaching a one-week low Wednesday following the Fed's rate decision.

Sterling fell ahead of the Bank of England's policy decision at 1100 GMT.

Bonds:

Eurozone government bond yields rose , tracking Treasury yields, with the 30-year Bund yield hitting a two-month high.

The 30-year Treasury yield hit a 19-year high as yields jumped across maturities following the fresh strikes by U.S. forces against Iran.

Energy:

In early European trading, the front-month Brent crude contract rose 1.8%, while WTI futures rose 1%.

Metals:

Gold prices ticked higher

as investors assessed comments from Fed Chairman Warsh on inflation. "Warsh reiterated a commitment to get inflation under control but offered little color on the details of the FOMC discussion," Deutsche Bank said.

Iron

Iron ore futures were lower in early trade. Prices were likely to remain range-bound as investors are looking for more macro signals from key political meetings in China and the U.S. this week, said Nanhua Futures.

EMEA HEADLINES

Shell's Profits Surge on Windfall From Continuing Middle East Conflict

Shell's earnings continued to rise, aided by a strong trading performance and higher prices stemming from the conflict in the Middle East, enabling the energy major to maintain its quarterly buyback.

The British energy giant's second-quarter adjusted earnings-a closely watched metric that strips out certain commodity price adjustments and one-time charges-more than doubled on the same period a year earlier to a consensus beating $9.84 billion.

Schneider Electric Upgrades Targets After Record First-Half Performance

Schneider Electric upgraded its full-year financial targets after it posted record first-half revenue and adjusted earnings, which were supported by organic growth.

The French group said Thursday that it now targets full-year adjusted organic earnings before interest, taxes and amortization growth of between 14% and 19%. This will be aided by organic revenue growth of between 10% and 13%, and organic adjusted margin expansion of between 70 basis points and 100 basis points.

U.S. Retaliates Against Iran for Tuesday's Surprise Attack

American forces carried out strikes against Iran on Wednesday night, in what the U.S. military called a "powerful response" to Iran's missile attacks on U.S. forces in Jordan.

The strikes came hours after President Trump vowed to retaliate for the surprise ballistic missile strike, dashing hopes for an imminent diplomatic breakthrough. Though the assault was larger in scope than previous U.S. attacks, it didn't amount to a return to major combat operations, according to a U.S. official.

French, Spanish Economies Picked Up in Second Quarter Despite Uncertainty From Iran War

Economic growth in France and Spain picked up in the second quarter, helped by household spending and robust exports as the economies overcame some of the uncertainty about the course and consequences of the conflict in the Middle East.

Gross domestic product in France rose 0.2% in the three months through June, rebounding from a 0.1% contraction in the first quarter, while Spain's grew 0.7%, up from 0.6%. Both were slightly ahead of consensus expectations from economists polled by The Wall Street Journal.

GLOBAL NEWS

Kevin Warsh Asked the Market to Speak. It Answered.

Kevin Warsh has staked his chairmanship on the premise that a quieter Federal Reserve gets a cleaner read on what investors think. On Wednesday, he said it was working.

At a news conference after the Fed held interest rates steady, he pointed to how nominal and inflation-adjusted Treasury yields had risen since his debut meeting in June, among the largest moves between meetings in two decades. He said markets were responding to the economy rather than to the Fed, which was evidence that his pullback from doling out guidance was working. Pressed later on why he hadn't acted on his inflation pledge by raising rates, he suggested those higher borrowing costs were doing some of the work of a rate increase the Fed hadn't had to make.

U.S. Retaliates Against Iran for Tuesday's Surprise Attack

American forces carried out strikes against Iran on Wednesday night, in what the U.S. military called a "powerful response" to Iran's missile attacks on U.S. forces in Jordan.

The strikes came hours after President Trump vowed to retaliate for the surprise ballistic missile strike, dashing hopes for an imminent diplomatic breakthrough. Though the assault was larger in scope than previous U.S. attacks, it didn't amount to a return to major combat operations, according to a U.S. official.

China Signals Little Appetite for Major Stimulus Despite Growth Headwinds

China's top leaders signaled little appetite for major stimulus in the second half of the year, with the world's second-largest economy still on track to meet a reduced annual growth target despite mounting domestic headwinds.

The ruling Communist Party's Politburo, China's top decision-making body, emphasized on Thursday the need to full use of existing policies, suggesting that no big-bang easing is in the pipeline.

The U.S. Commander With a Two-Week Plan to Escalate Strikes in Iran

President Trump was sitting aboard Air Force One on the tarmac in Delaware last week having just watched the caskets of four U.S. soldiers killed in the Iran war arrive from overseas. He was huddling with his top war advisers-Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Also aboard the plane in the impromptu meeting: Adm. Brad Cooper, head of the U.S. Central Command, who has been quietly directing the war from his Tampa, Fla., headquarters and who had arrived separately for the solemn ceremony.

See the New Fronts of the Iran War Erupting Across the Middle East

The Middle East enjoyed a respite from violence after the U.S. and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding to pause their war in mid-June. Now, it looks like the calm before the storm.

Fresh theaters of war have sprung up across the Middle East since the beginning of July, when Iran returned to threatening ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz. Soon, President Trump declared the ceasefire over, and the U.S. resumed bombing Iran. Tehran retaliated against Arab allies of the U.S. in the Persian Gulf.

The Daring Mission to Recover World War II POWs From the Bottom of the Ocean

SUBIC BAY, Philippines-Petty Officer First Class Taylor Lucas was nearly 80 feet underwater, inside the wreckage of a Japanese liner used to transport captured American soldiers and sailors in World War II.

In the darkness, the U.S. Navy diver dug through mud, wood and steel. There was so much sediment floating around that a flashlight was no use.

Write to priscila.barrera@wsj.com

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This article is a text version of a Wall Street Journal newsletter published earlier today.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 30, 2026 05:16 ET (09:16 GMT)