European markets higher as U.S. government shutdown ends; Burberry jumps 5%

LONDON — European stocks were higher on Thursday, tracking their global counterparts as the U.S. government shutdown came to an end.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 was 0.3% higher 8:35 a.m. in London (3:35 a.m. ET) with most sectors in positive territory.

Germany’s DAX was last seen a touch above the flatline, France’s CAC 40 rose 0.8% and Italy’s FTSE MIB was up 0.5%. Spain’s Ibex 35 advanced almost 0.1%.

The U.K.’s FTSE 100 index, however, dipped into the red, shedding 0.2% as investors reacted to sluggish growth figures.

Looking at individual stocks, pharmaceuticals performed well in the first hour of trading. Denmark’s ALK and Zealand Pharma led gains, gaining 12% and 7.43% respectively.

ALK upped its guidance on Wednesday. The firm is now expected to grow by 13-15% in local currencies, representing a slight increase from its previous 12-14%. The firm said it saw growth in all sales regions and product lines.

Shares of British luxury brand Burberry, meanwhile, were last seen up 5%. It comes shortly after the company reported comparable store sales growth for the first time in two years.

Asia-Pacific shares mostly rose and U.S. stock futures ticked higher overnight after U.S. President Donald Trump signed a funding bill into law, effectively ending the longest federal government shutdown in U.S. history.

The measure, which will fund government operations through the end of January, was passed by the House of Representatives earlier Wednesday night in a 222-209 vote.

Investors in Europe will be keeping an eye on earnings reports from Siemens, Deutsche Telekom, Enel, Merck, Aviva and Alstom, among others.

On data releases, the U.K. economy notched 0.1% growth in the third quarter, according to new preliminary figures from the Office for National Statistics in one of the last major economic data releases ahead of the Autumn Budget.

“It’s clear that the summer of 2025 was a little disappointing,” said Deutsche Bank’s Chief UK Economist Sanjay Raja, adding that the investment bank doesn’t expect much of an acceleration towards the end of the year as inflation and unemployment tick upwards.

“We expect budget uncertainty to start impacting spending in October and November,” Raja said. “And we expect big investment or hiring decisions to be delayed until the new year. Altogether, we still expect annual GDP to expand by 1.4% in 2025, but downside risks to our 2026 projections are already brewing.”

European Union industrial production data is also set to be released on Thursday.

— CNBC’s Dan Mangan and Emily Wilkins contributed to this market report.