Investing.com – European stocks rose on Wednesday, buoyed by gains in technology stocks on Wall Street overnight, although weaker regional confidence and political uncertainty limited gains.
As of 03:10 ET (07:10 GMT), Germany’s TE was up 0.7%, France’s TE was up 0.5% and Britain’s TE was up 0.3%.
Nvidia rebound helps tone
European stock indexes were higher after a rebound in heavyweight chipmaking stocks, especially Nvidia Corp (NASDAQ: NVIDIA), extending the positive tone seen in early Asian trade and overnight on Wall Street.
Shares of Nvidia, a major supplier of artificial intelligence hardware and software, soared more than 6%, ending three consecutive sessions of decline, with about $430 billion wiped off its market value.
Big Tech has been a major driver of gains on Wall Street over the past year or so, with Nvidia briefly becoming the world’s most valuable company.
German consumer confidence drops
However, gains were limited as quarter-end caution limited major moves.
In addition, the first round of voting in France’s early elections will take place over the weekend, and a strong performance from the far-right National Rally party could easily weaken market sentiment.
Separately, a survey on Wednesday showed a slight decline is expected in July, ending a four-month streak of gains.
The consumer confidence index jointly published by GfK and the Nuremberg Institute for Market Decision Research unexpectedly fell to -21.8 in July from a slightly revised -21.0 in June.
Volkswagen invests in Rivian
In the corporate sector, German auto giant Volkswagen (ETR: ) fell 1.6% after announcing plans to invest about $5 billion. Rivian Cars (Nasdaq: ), the U.S. electric vehicle maker, has entered into 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 acquisition of AIG (NYSE: )’s global personal travel insurance and assistance business.
Crude prices rise despite rising U.S. inventories
Crude oil prices rose on Wednesday despite an unexpected build in U.S. inventories, driven by geopolitical risks from conflict in the Middle East and confidence during the summer driving season.
Futures (WTI) were up 0.6% at $81.31 a barrel as of 03:10 ET, while the contract was up 0.5% at $84.66 a barrel.
Data released on Tuesday showed that U.S. oil inventories rose by about 900,000 barrels in the week ended June 21.
The results were somewhat surprising given expectations for a consumption of 3 million barrels, but were largely ignored as traders expected inventory drawdowns in the third quarter during the peak demand season.
Official data will be released later in the meeting.
Both contracts have remained strong over the past two weeks as ongoing geopolitical tensions – an Israeli attack on Gaza and a Ukrainian attack on a Russian refinery – led traders to price a risk premium into oil prices.