By Twesha Dikshit
(Reuters) -European shares touched two-week highs on Thursday, as strong earnings from insurers, including Admiral and Aviva, helped offset a slump in Dutch payments group Adyen after it cut its annual revenue forecast.
British insurer Admiral hit a record high, rising 5.8% after a strong first-half profit.
Aviva jumped 4.1% to its highest since 2007, after the British insurer raised its interim dividend after reporting stronger half-year operating profit.
Swiss Re climbed 0.9% after the reinsurer reported better-than-expected net profit for the first half. European insurers climbed nearly 2% to trade near record highs touched last Thursday.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.2%, as of 0905 GMT, with upbeat earnings reports fuelling fresh momentum in markets already supported by bets of easing U.S. monetary policy.
“Some of the banks and insurance companies seem to be doing well even in a slightly lower interest rate environment, and you’ve seen those share prices rally,” said Michael Field, chief equity market strategist EMEA, Morningstar equity research.
On the flip side, Adyen slumped 17.5% after it cut its annual revenue forecast, citing the impact of U.S. tariffs on client growth and a sustained slowdown in market volumes.
Most markets across Europe rose with the exception of Britain’s FTSE, which was weighed down by several companies trading ex-dividend.
Data showed Britain’s economy slowed less than expected in the second quarter after a strong start to 2025, despite the shock of U.S. trade tariffs and a weaker jobs market, offering some relief to Finance Minister Rachel Reeves.
Euro zone industrial output dipped more than expected in June even as overall economic growth held up in the second quarter, challenging views that the 20 nation currency union remains resilient to the fallout from a global trade war.
Aerospace and defense stocks gained 1.9%, after coming under pressure recently with U.S. President Donald Trump set to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin for a summit this week.
Rolls-Royce, Babcock and Bae Systems gained more than 2% each.
Embracer, however, slumped 22.6% after the gaming company’s first-quarter operating profit missed estimates.
Carlsberg fell 5.5% after the Danish brewer missed half-year profit and volume forecasts, and said it did not expect any improvement in the consumer environment this year.
Thyssenkrupp tumbled 7.4% after the German conglomerate cut its full-year outlook for investments and sales, citing disruption from U.S. tariffs.
(Reporting by Twesha Dikshit and Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich)
