Europe midday: Shares surge as BoE cuts rates

(Sharecast News) - European shares surged ahead at midday on Thursday as investors largely ignored the start of higher US tariffs on a large number of its trading partners and the Bank of England cut interest rates in a tight vote among policymakers.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.54% as of 0936 BST with most major regional bourses trading in the green. Britain's FTSE 100 was down 0.7% after the rate decision, while Germany's DAX gained 1.74%.

In a 5-4 vote, members of the BoE's monetary policy committee reduced rates for the fifth time this year by 25 basis points to 4% to bolster Britain's creaking economy. The rate is at its lowest level since March 2023.

Meanwhile dozens of countries faced higher duties on their exports to the US as President Donald Trump's latest raft of tariffs came into force.

The "reciprocal" rates, using calculations that have come into question from economists, came into force overnight. Trump once again made the factually incorrect claim that billions of dollars come into America as a result - duties on imports are paid by the customer, affectively leaving US consumers footing the bill.

In equities news, Maersk gained as the shipping group lifted its full-year earnings outlook on global demand for ocean container freight.

Rheinmetall fell sharply after the German weapons maker missed second-quarter sales expectations partially due to a delay in domestic defence contracts being awarded.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com