Industrials lift European shares to record high ahead of US inflation data

Europe's benchmark index climbed to a record high on Wednesday, as upbeat earnings boosted industrials and healthcare stocks, while investors buckled up for a highly anticipated U.S. inflation print.

The pan-European STOXX 600 was up 0.4%, as of 0715 GMT, after closing at a record high on Tuesday.

Shares of credit data firm Experian jumped 7.8% after an upbeat annual organic revenue growth forecast and Poland's InPost advanced 5% following its higher first-quarter core earnings. Both companies were the top gainers in the industrial goods and services index.


Boosting the healthcare index, Merck KGaA rose 4.5% after better-than-expected adjusted earnings.

Finland's Neste slumped 13.3% to the bottom of the STOXX 600 after the biofuels producer and oil refiner lowered its 2024 margin outlook for renewable products.

German conglomerate Thyssenkrupp dropped nearly 7% after cutting its annual forecasts for sales and net profit for the second time in three months.

U.S. consumer prices inflation data is at the centre of investors' focus, a day after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell noted his confidence in easing inflation after a hotter-than-expected producer prices reading in April.