Oil drop props up the STOXX, travel at 3-week high
SPY•European shares edge higher as oil falls
Encouraging news on diplomatic efforts in the Middle East lent support to global markets on Wednesday, helping European shares edge higher even as falling crude prices weighed on heavyweight energy stocks and capped gains.
The STOXX 600 rose 0.1%, while the FTSE 100 was little changed.
Energy, technology and travel stocks move differently
Oil and gas stocks led sectoral decliners, down more than 1%, with BP, Equinor, Eni and TotalEnergies falling between 1% and 2.5% as Brent prices held below $87, set for an over 8% weekly drop, their biggest in two months.
Technology was dragged lower by a pullback in software, IT and data firms following a summer rally, while chipmakers traded mixed ahead of Nvidia's results due after the U.S. close. Software heavyweight SAP fell 4% after UBS downgraded the stock to "neutral", citing a slower-than-expected rollout of agentic AI.
Miners climbed, helped by a surge this week in gold prices, while lower oil prices helped lift travel and leisure stocks to three-week highs. Budget airline Ryanair gained 2%.
