Europe's STOXX 600 notches a third straight record close
The STOXX 600 closed at 664.14 on Friday, a third straight record close, after gaining 2.44% for the week — its largest weekly gain since the week ended July 3, 2026 — as investors rotated out of AI stocks.
A flat Friday that still made history
The STOXX 600 closed Friday at 664.14, up 0.13 points, or 0.02%, for a new record close — its third in a row. The index has now risen for five consecutive trading days and is up 15.81 points, or 2.44%, over the past five sessions.
The week as a whole was the index's strongest since the week ended July 3, 2026. It was also the third straight weekly gain, worth 28.37 points, or 4.46%, and the index has risen in five of the past six weeks.
Rotation out of AI stocks did the work
The record run was powered by a shift away from artificial-intelligence stocks. Barron's reported that the STOXX 600 traded at record highs on Thursday, rising 0.5% to 666.20 points, as Nvidia's leadership crisis prompted investors to rethink the AI trade. Healthcare stocks led the advance, while ASML, the continent's most valuable stock, fell 2.4%.
Deutsche Bank strategists wrote that the strength in European stocks hints at market rotation following developments at Nvidia. On Friday, weakness in technology and defense stocks weighed on the index after Thursday's record close, and Microsoft shares fell almost 2% early in the session as the company dealt with a major global outage.
- STOXX 600, Friday close664.14
- Weekly gain+2.44%
- Gain over three weeks+4.46%
- Year to date+12.15%
- Thursday level reported by Barron's666.20
Earnings gave investors a reason to buy
Company results backed the move. Italian insurer Generali reported a net profit of 3.6 billion euros, or 3.98 billion dollars, for the first nine months of the year, up 12% from a year earlier and ahead of the 3.49 billion euros analysts expected.
Cartier owner Richemont said sales for its fiscal second quarter through September rose 13% from a year earlier at constant exchange rates, reaching 5.95 billion euros, or 6.58 billion dollars, above forecasts of 5.895 billion euros. The index is up 71.95 points, or 12.15%, so far in 2026, and 2.69% for the month.
What to watch next
Nvidia reports earnings on Tuesday after the close, the next test of the AI trade that has driven money toward Europe. Traders are also watching the Federal Reserve, with the dollar near a 19-month high on bets the central bank could raise interest rates by as much as 50 basis points in December.
Bond yields are part of the same picture: the 10-year Treasury yield stood at 5.128%, and the 2-year yield at 4.861%, on Friday. Oil also matters for the inflation outlook: Brent crude traded at 96.43 dollars a barrel and West Texas Intermediate at 88.89 dollars, while the International Energy Agency said global oil supply rose by 2.3 million barrels a day in October to 105.4 million barrels a day.
