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- EU court blocks French ban on vegetable 'steak' labelling
- Meta AI turns pictures into videos with sound
- US dockworkers return to ports after three-day strike
- DR Congo to begin mpox vaccination campaign Saturday in east
- Meta must limit data use for targeted ads: EU court
- Oil extends gains, jobs report lifts Wall Street
- US hiring soars past expectations in sign of resilient market
- As EU targets Chinese cars, European rivals sputter
- Top EU court finds against FIFA in key transfer market ruling
- Oil extends gains, Hong Kong stocks resume rally
- 'A man provides': Ukrainian miners send families away as Russia advances
- EU states greenlight extra tariffs on EVs from China
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- US dockworkers to head back to work after tentative deal
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- Israel-Hamas war causes 86-percent dive in Gaza GDP: IMF
- Milan's Morata moves house after Inter-fan town mayor 'violates' privacy
- 'Devastating' storm hits Augusta National but Masters will go on
- Relief in Brazil, Asia over delay to EU deforestation rules
- Oil prices jump, stocks fall on Middle East tensions
- Biden says 'discussing' possible Israeli strikes on Iran oil facilities
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- Phasing out teen smoking could save 1.2 mn lives: study
- 'Welcome relief': Asia producers hail EU deforestation law delay
- Japan PM slated to announce plans for 'happiness index'
- Turkish inflation falls less than expected in September at 49.4%
- Easing inflation lifts profit at UK supermarket Tesco
- Skiing calls on UN climate science to combat melting future
- China wine industry looks to breed climate resilience
- Tokyo rallies on weak yen, Hong Kong drops after surge
- Dutch airline KLM unveils 'firm' cost-cutting measures
- Carpe diem: the Costa Rican women turning fish into fashion
- Senegal looks to aquaculture as fish stocks dwindle
- Will AI one day win a Nobel Prize?
- Climate change, economics muddy West's drive to curb Chinese EVs
- Argentina's Milei vetoes university budget after huge protests
- TotalEnergies plans to grow oil and gas production until 2030
- 2024 Nobels offer glimmer of hope as global crises mount
- Tokyo rallies on weak yen, Hong Kong reverses after surge
- Tunisia readies for vote as incumbent Saied eyes victory
- High childcare costs in US weigh on women's employment
- US voters seek help with crushing childcare costs
- Taiwan shuts down for second day as Typhoon Krathon to land
- Supercharged storms: how climate change amplifies cyclones
Stocks mostly up as markets digest Fed rate signals
US and European stock markets mostly rose on Thursday as investors digested US economic data and Federal Reserve signals that it will maintain its agressive monetary-tightening policy to combat inflation.
European equities closed higher after seesawing earlier in the day.
Wall Street indices were mixed, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average flat near midday while the S&P 500 and the tech-rich Nasdaq were up after closing lower on Wednesday.
Major Asian markets finished the day in the red.
"Closely watched minutes of the last Federal Reserve meeting show US central bank policymakers are set to stay firmly on the path of rate rises," noted Susannah Streeter, senior investment and markets analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.
While policymakers said they would eventually have to start tempering their tightening pace, they said they would keep borrowing costs elevated "for some time", though admitted there was a risk of going too far and damaging the economy.
But Craig Erlam, analyst at OANDA trading platform, said Wednesday's minutes could also indicate that the Fed "is aware of the risks and may therefore ease off the break as soon as the opportunity arises in order to avoid tightening too much".
"It also raises the possibility of a swift U-turn from hiking rates to cutting them as markets have indicated recently and policymakers have pushed back against," he said.
"Needless to say, there are many more twists and turns to come."
US markets were also reacting to US industry data showing that existing home sales fell sharply in July, the sixth consecutive monthly decline as borrowing costs rise.
Other data in focus were better-than-expected initial jobless claims and manufacturing activity in the very industrialised Philadelphia area, which was back in the green in August after two straight months of contraction.
Oil prices, meanwhile, rallied by more than 2.5 percent after data showed US crude inventories dropped last week due to strong domestic demand and higher exports.
Elsewhere, Norway's central bank raised interest rates by half a percentage point to 1.75 percent, and flagged another hike in September.
Turkey's central bank, meanwhile, stunned the markets by lowering its main interest rate even as inflation soared to a 24-year high -- the opposite approach of other countries facing rising prices.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan subscribes to the unorthodox belief that high interest rates cause inflation rather than rein it in.
- Key figures at around 1545 GMT -
New York - Dow: FLAT at 33,980.87 points
London - FTSE 100: UP 0.4 percent at 7,541.85 (close)
Frankfurt - DAX: UP 0.5 percent at 13,697.41 (close)
Paris - CAC 40: UP 0.5 percent at 6,557.40 (close)
EURO STOXX 50: UP 0.6 percent at 3,777.38
Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 1.0 percent at 28,942.14 (close)
Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.8 percent at 19,763.91 (close)
Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 0.5 percent at 3,277.54 (close)
Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0120 from $1.0178 Wednesday
Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.1984 from $1.2050
Euro/pound: UP at 84.47 pence from 84.44 pence
Dollar/yen: UP at 135.28 yen from 135.08 yen
Brent North Sea crude: UP 2.7 percent at $96.15 per barrel
West Texas Intermediate: UP 2.5 percent at $90.33 per barrel
M.P.Jacobs--CPN