Investing.com – European stock markets rose on Wednesday, helped by gains in technology stocks on Wall Street the day before, although gains were capped by weakening confidence in the region and political uncertainty.
At 03:10 ET (0710 GMT), Germany was trading 0.7% higher, France was up 0.5% and the UK was up 0.3%.
Nvidia recovery helps tone up
European stocks rose, maintaining the positive sentiment seen in Asia earlier in the session, as well as on Wall Street overnight following a recovery in shares of major chipmakers, especially Nvidia (NASDAQ:).
Shares of Nvidia, the dominant provider of artificial intelligence hardware and software, rose more than 6%, posting a three-session decline that wiped about $430 billion off its market value.
The Big Tech sector has been responsible for many gains on Wall Street over the past year or so, with Nvidia briefly becoming the most valuable company in the world.
Consumer sentiment in Germany falls
However, growth is limited as end-of-quarter caution limits significant moves.
In addition, the first round of voting in France’s snap elections is due over the weekend, and a strong showing by the far-right National Rally party could easily sway sentiment.
It is also expected to decline slightly in July, ending a four-month streak of gains, a survey showed on Wednesday.
The consumer sentiment index, published jointly by GfK and the Nuremberg Institute for Market Solutions, unexpectedly fell to -21.8 in July from a slightly revised -21.0 in June.
Volkswagen invests in Rivian
In the corporate sector, shares of Volkswagen (ETR:) fell 1.6% after the German auto giant announced plans to invest about $5 billion in Rivian Automotive (NASDAQ:), a US electric vehicle maker, in a joint venture that will give it access to the startup’s technology.
Zurich Insurance (SIX:) shares rose 0.2% after the Swiss company announced a $600 million deal to buy AIG’s (NYSE:) global personal travel insurance and assistance business.
Oil rose despite jump in US inventories
Crude oil prices rose on Wednesday despite an unexpected jump in U.S. inventories, driven by geopolitical risks related to the Middle East conflict and confidence around the summer driving season.
By 3:10 a.m. ET, WTI futures were trading 0.6% higher at $81.31 a barrel, with the contract up 0.5% at $84.66 a barrel.
Data released on Tuesday showed US oil inventories rose by about 0.9 million barrels in the week to June 21.
It was something of a surprise given expectations for a 3 million barrel drop in inventories, but has been largely ignored as traders expect inventories to draw down during peak demand in the third quarter.
Official figures will be released later in the session.
Both contracts continue to post strong gains over the past two weeks as ongoing geopolitical tensions – Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip and Ukrainian attacks on Russian refineries – have led traders to place a risk premium on oil prices.