European markets volatile as investors react to Fed; Deutsche Bank up 4.8% – CNBC

LONDON — European stocks were choppy on Thursday as global markets reacted to the latest monetary policy decision from the U.S. Federal Reserve.

U.S. stocks initially rallied Wednesday even after the Federal Reserve pointed to an interest rate hike coming soon but overnight sentiment has changed. U.S. stock futures fell Thursday morning, indicating a sharply lower open on Wall Street.

Asia-Pacific markets fell across the board on Thursday overnight. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 3.3% while the Topix was down 2.3%. Over in South Korea, the benchmark Kospi dropped 3.13% and in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index and the Hang Seng Tech index dropped 2.56% and 4.61%, respectively. Chinese mainland shares also declined.

Along with Deutsche Bank, earnings in Europe on Thursday came from Unicredit, LVMH, SAP, Banco Sabadell, easyJet, Diageo and STMicroelectronics. Renault provided a strategic update on the Nissan/Mitsubishi alliance.

On the data front, Germany’s GfK consumer sentiment index came in at -6.7 points heading into February from a revised -6.9 points a month ago, exceeding average analyst expectations for a drop to -7.8.

— CNBC’s Jeff Cox, Tanaya Macheel and Abigail Ng contributed reporting to this market report.