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A ground crew member passes a Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc engine on the wing of a passenger aircraft at Tegel Airport, operated by Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg GmbH, in Berlin, Germany, on Tuesday, July 7, 2020.
Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg News
European stocks edged lower on Thursday, with markets on edge for the comments from the head of the U.S. Federal Reserve on the central bank’s inflation strategy.
Up 33% from its March lows, the Stoxx Europe 600 SXXP, -0.02% slipped 0.2%.
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average YM00, -0.15% fell 76 points.
The market is waiting for the 9:10 a.m. Eastern address from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, in which he is expected to suggest the central bank will adopt a new framework to allow inflation to run hotter than the present target after a period of missing that goal.
There’s also data on U.S. jobless claims and more data on second-quarter gross domestic product.
Of stocks on the move, struggling airline engine maker Rolls-Royce RR, -6.75% lost 5% after reporting a £5.4 billion loss before tax. It’s reviewing “a range of options” to strengthen its balance sheet, alongside potential disposals to raise at least £2 billion, including ITP Aero and other assets. Its chief financial officer, Stephen Daintith, is leaving to take the same role at fast-growing supermarket distributor Ocado Group. OCDO, +0.03%
Advertising group WPP WPP, +5.38% rallied as it said it was on track to hit full-year targets and paid an interim dividend.
OneSavings Bank OSB, +15.27% jumped 10% as the specialist mortgage lender said its underlying pretax profit fell 14% and said application volumes are currently approaching 60% of pre-COVID-19 lockdown levels on tighter lending criteria and higher pricing.
