Europe Stocks Higher Ahead of Central Bank Meetings; Diageo Down 10%, Standard Chartered Up 5.5%

LONDON — European markets were higher Tuesday, as earnings continue to dominate stock action and investors brace for central bank decisions in the U.S. and U.K.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index was 0.27% higher at 9:04 a.m. in London, with most sectors in the green. While most major bourses gained, London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.48% as drinks giant Diageo plunged more than 10% on its first sales decline since 2020.

That was despite strength in other corporate earnings, with shares of Standard Chartered up 5.5% after the U.K. bank announced its biggest-ever share buyback, of $1.5 billion, and raised its outlook in half-year results.

Oil major BP was up 2.1% after hiking its dividend, as it beat second-quarter earnings estimates.

Attention is also on the Federal Reserve’s July meeting which wraps up Wednesday, with market pricing indicating this could be the last Fed hold before the central bank starts cutting interest rates. Investors will be closely monitoring the language used in Fed communications after the revision in June of its forward-looking “dot plot” to just one cut this year.

The Fed will be followed by the Bank of England’s monetary policy meeting on Thursday. The decision on whether to bring rates lower or keep them steady is seen as being on a knife-edge, despite U.K. inflation coming in at the BOE’s 2% target for the last two months.

Asia-Pacific markets were mostly lower Tuesday as the Bank of Japan commenced its meeting.

U.S. stocks were lower overnight ahead of earnings from the likes of Merck, Pfizer, PayPal, Procter & Gamble and JetBlue.

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