Europe midday: Shares hold gains ahead of US jobs data

(Sharecast News) - European shares opened slightly higher on Wednesday as high-stakes Ukraine peace talks between US and Russian officials ended without agreement.

The pan-regional Stoxx 600 was up 0.20% to 576.80 at 0823 GMT. Germany's DAX rose 0.32%, while Britain's FTSE 100 was 0.15% lower. Investors are also eyeing US jobs data later in the day.

"Today brings the release of the ADP non-farm payrolls figure, which takes on increased importance in the absence of Fridays official jobs report," said Marketscope analyst Joshua Mahony.

"The justification for a rate cut next week centres around weakness in the jobs market and therefore markets are likely to take a 'bad news is good news' approach. The CME are currently pricing an 87% chance of a rate cut on Wednesday, and the 5K job creation figure anticipated today would likely embolden calls for the Fed to take action."

Moscow and the US failed to make progress on a deal to end the almost four-year war in Ukraine during talks, a senior aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin said.

In remarks to Russian media, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said that after a five-hour meeting with US envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner both sides "neither further nor closer to resolving the crisis in Ukraine. There is a lot of work to be done".

The comments came just hours after the autocratic Russian leader issued threats that he was ready for war with Europe.

In equity news, shares in Zara parent company Inditex jumped as the fashion house reported strong nine-month results.

Fiat maker Stellantis jumped on an upgrade from UBS.

Shares in Hugo Boss fell sharply, after the German fashion house slashed its outlook as part of a shake-up of the business.

Updating investors on strategy, Hugo Boss said it wanted to "realign, simplify and strengthen" the business.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com