Europe’s benchmark Stoxx 600 index opened higher on Thursday and was up 0.8% at 8:30 a.m. in London.

Germany’s DAX was up 1%, France’s CAC 40 by 0.9% and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 by 0.4%.

All sectors climbed, with retail stocks up 2.5% after clothing group H&M posted a surprise first-quarter profit, boosting the stock by 9.7%.

Banks also continued to shake off recent worries, rising 1.3%.

CreditSights maintained its “outperform” recommendation on Alibaba after its overhaul of business structure, adding that the plans will not have much of an impact on the company’s credit.

“We see a limited near-term impact of the reorganization on Alibaba’s debt metrics given all six units remain consolidated and controlled by the group,” CreditSights said in a note.

It expects to see potential from the separate entities’ fundraisings, especially units that have been unprofitable, to be a net credit positive effect on the wider group.

“We think that the corporate reorganization reduces the risk of cash burn for Alibaba to fund unprofitable business lines,” the note added.

“We expect the potential separate equity fund-raising (including IPOs) of these business units to help ease the cash burn for Alibaba, a credit positive in our view,” it said.

– Jihye Lee

Adani Transmission and Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone are exposed to “higher contagion risks,” Fitch Ratings said in its press release.

“The governance weaknesses at the sponsor level and other Adani group entities expose even the group’s stable cash-generative corporate-like issuers, Adani Transmission Limited and Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Limited, to higher contagion risks,” said Fitch Ratings.

It added that if such risks are not properly addressed, the entities could see its financial flexibility being affected.

Fitch reiterated both companies’ ratings at BBB- in the release. Shares of Adani Transmission fell 0.5% in Wednesday’s trade in Mumbai, while Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone rose by more than 5%.

– Jihye Lee

The Bank of Thailand on Wednesday raised its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to 1.75%.

The central bank said the Thai economy is expected to continue to expand, driven by tourism and private consumption, while noting heightened uncertainty over the recent turmoil around banks in the U.S. and Europe.

“The global economic uncertainty has increased, in part from persistent inflationary pressures and episodes of banking stresses in advanced economies,” it said in its policy statement.

It noted Thailand’s banks have not been affected by the turmoil, adding that its system is “resilient.”

“Recent banking stresses in some advanced economies have not had a significant impact on the Thai financial system, as Thai financial institutions and corporations have limited linkages with the troubled banks and risky assets,” the central bank said.

– Jihye Lee

The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite ended Wednesday’s trading session nearly 2% higher, which puts the key index on pace for a 13% gain by the end of the quarter. That would be the Nasdaq’s best advance since the fourth quarter of 2020.

A rally in tech stocks helped lift the broader market throughout the session while investors also assuaged fears over further contagion from the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank.

Shares of the luxury furniture company RH slipped more than 5% in extended trading after missing analysts’ expectations when reporting fourth-quarter earnings.

The company reported per-share earnings of $2.88, less than the $3.34 expected by analysts polled by Refinitiv. Revenue was also less than anticipated at $772 million compared with the $780 million consensus estimate.

RH guided revenue for the first quarter and entire year to come in below analysts’ respective consensus estimates for those periods.

The stock has lost 8% in 2023, continuing to slide after tumbling 50.2% in 2022.

— Alex Harring

With just two of the five trading sessions left in the trading week, the three major indexes are on pace for wins.

The Dow is up the most so far this week, gaining 1.5%. The S&P 500 is closely trailing with a 1.4% advance.

The Nasdaq Composite, meanwhile, is up 0.9%, a relatively muted advance as investors weighed the outlook for technology and other growth stocks. But the index has still gained the most since the start of the year.

— Alex Harring

Market veteran Ed Yardeni believes the S&P 500 can still earn a double-digit gain this year despite the banking crisis as well as fears of a hard landing.

“This banking crisis is going to be very well contained by both the Fed and the FDIC. And at the same time, I think it’s going to keep the Fed from raising interest rates even further,” Yardeni said on CNBC’s “Closing Bell” Wednesday.

The president of Yardeni Research set his S&P 500 year-end target at 4,600, which would translate into a roughly 20% gain for the year and a 14% rally from Wednesday’s close of 4,027.81.

— Yun Li