European stock markets are anticipated to begin higher as risk sentiment is lifted by excellent financial results from chipmaker Nvidia and growing optimism.

On Thursday, European stock markets are anticipated to begin higher as risk sentiment is lifted by excellent financial results from chipmaker Nvidia and growing optimism that weak economic data would force central banks to stop raising interest rates.

The world's most valuable chipmaker, Nvidia, delivered better-than-expected second-quarter results late on Wednesday and provided third-quarter forecasts that were above expectations. This was made possible by a surge in artificial intelligence research.

The stock market star also revealed a massive repurchase programme worth $25 billion, which sparked strong premarket gains and probably helped the IT industry in both the Asian and European markets.

Investors have also benefited from the increased chance that the European Central Bank will stop raising interest rates in September, as negative business activity statistics indicated that Europe's economic problems were becoming worse.

While Britain's business activity unexpectedly declined in August, Germany's commercial activity shrank at its sharpest rate in more than three years, increasing the prospect of a recession.

Speaking at the Jackson Hole symposium of the Federal Reserve on Friday are Governor Andrew Bailey of the Bank of England and President Christine Lagarde of the European Central Bank.

In spite of this, investors will undoubtedly pay close attention to Fed Chair Jerome Powell's speech in order to determine the course of monetary policy going forward.

Thursday saw a slight decline in oil prices as a string of disappointing PMI data raised worries about a weakening global economy and future demand.

The information released on Wednesday also revealed an unexpected, significant increase in petrol and distillate stockpiles over the previous week, which suggested a decline in domestic fuel consumption and mainly obscured a larger-than-anticipated reduction in overall crude inventories.

(Sources: investing.com, reuters.com)