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European markets close lower; Air France-KLM down 3.1%

Jenni Reid
Holly Ellyatt

This is CNBC's live blog covering European markets.

European markets slipped Thursday, reversing gains seen in the previous trading session.

The Stoxx 600 index provisionally closed down 0.3%, with the majority of sectors ending the session in the red. Retail stocks led losses, closing 1.1% lower.

Airline group Air France-KLM closed down 3.1%, with JPMorgan analysts cutting the stock to underweight from overweight.

European markets


It came after regional markets closed higher Wednesday, rebounding from mixed trade seen earlier in the week.

U.S. stocks traded higher in morning deals Thursday after a lackluster trading session Wednesday. Private payrolls data released yesterday in the U.S. showed that employers added 103,000 positions in November, coming in below expectations.

November nonfarm payrolls, along with wage data and the unemployment rate, will be out on Friday.

Asia-Pacific markets slumped across the board on Thursday, as investors assessed trade data from China and Australia.

U.S. stocks trade higher

U.S. stocks opened higher Thursday, attempting to snap a three-day losing streak with traders looking ahead to Friday's all-important jobs report.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was trading 0.1% higher in early deals, while the S&P 500 was up 0.6%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq jumped 0.1%.

— Karen Gilchrist

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Ozan Tarman, vice chair of global macro at Deutsche Bank, says interest rates are likely to go lower.

UK house prices rise for second month

Jonathan Nicholson | NurPhoto | Getty Images

U.K. house prices rose for a second straight month in November, figures from lender Halifax show, in a continued sign that tight supply is capping the market downturn.

Average prices were 0.5% higher in November, following a rise of 1.2% in October. Prices were 1% lower than the previous year.

"Over the last year, despite the wider economic headwinds, property prices have held up better than expected," said Kim Kinnaird, director at Halifax Mortgages.

"The resilience seen in house prices during 2023 continues to be underpinned by a shortage of properties available, rather than any significant strengthening of buyer demand. That said, recent figures for mortgage approvals suggest a slight uptick in activity levels, which is likely as a result of an improving picture on affordability for homebuyers."

— Jenni Reid

CNBC Pro: Morgan Stanley picks 'alpha' opportunities in China tech - giving one 52% upside

The Chinese economy may have been in a funk this year, but Morgan Stanley sees promise in the tech sector – naming stocks to play the theme into the new year.

Looking ahead, the bank's analysts expect 2024 to be "another year of an alpha-driven market as subpar macro improvements weigh on industry growth."

"[We] expect alpha-driven performance for select stocks," they added, naming four alpha stocks they are overweight on, and two stocks they have a conservative stance on.

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— Amala Balakrishner

CNBC Pro: Forget ‘obvious’ AI stocks: Top Morningstar strategist likes 2 AI derivative plays trading at a discount

Artificial intelligence has been a huge theme this year, with investors rushing into many AI-related stocks.

Nvidia soared over 200% year to date, and Microsoft around 56%.

Dave Sekera, Morningstar's chief U.S. market strategist, said he would move to an underweight position on tech stocks now and take profit in overvalued stocks.

But he flagged opportunities in two derivative plays on AI that investors can consider. "Not everything in the technology sector is overvalued. While the obvious plays in artificial intelligence have already run up, we see opportunities in those stocks we consider as second derivative plays on AI," Sekera told CNBC on Wednesday.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Weizhen Tan

European markets: Here are the opening calls

European markets are expected to open higher Thursday.

The U.K.'s FTSE 100 index is expected to open 22 points higher at 8,442, Germany's DAX up 26 points at 18,896, France's CAC 7 points higher at 8,244 and Italy's FTSE MIB up 64 points at 35,091, according to data from IG.

Earnings are due from Swiss Re, Zurich Insurance, Siemens, Deutsche Telekom, BT and EasyJet, among others. There are no major data releases.

— Holly Ellyatt