12:13 PM EDT, 04/03/2024 (MT Newswires) -- European stock markets closed mostly higher Wednesday as the Stoxx Europe 600 rose 0.29%, the Swiss Market Index gained 0.19%, France's CAC was up 0.29%, Germany's DAX increased 0.46, and the FTSE in London nudged 0.03% higher.

Euro area annual inflation was an estimated 2.4% in March, according to a flash estimate from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. That is down from 2.6% in February and 6.9% in March of 2023. Services accounted for the highest annual rate in March, followed by food, alcohol, and tobacco prices, and prices of non-energy industrial goods.

The highest rates of inflation in March were in Croatia and Estonia at 4.9% and 4.1% respectively, while the lowest rates were in Lithuania and Finland at 0.3% and 0.7% respectively.

Eurostat also reported that the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for February was 6.5% in the euro area, which was unchanged from January and down from 6.6% a year earlier. The unemployment rate in the EU was 6.0% in February, which was also flat compared with the previous month as well as the same month last year.

The highest unemployment rates for February were in Spain and Greece at 11.5% and 11.0% respectively, while the lowest unemployment rate was in Czechia at 2.6%.

And in corporate news, financial services stocks rallied as Barclays and Standard Chartered rose 2.4% and 2.2%, respectively, on the FTSE in London, followed by Natwest and HSBC, which gained 2.1% and 1.6%, respectively. Commerzbank and Deutsche Bank increased 4.5% and 1.9%, respectively on the DAX, while Societe Generale rose 1.9% in Paris, followed by BNP Paribas and Credit Agricole, which were up 1.7% and 1.3% respectively.

Airplane maker Airbus delivered 142 aircraft in Q1, a 12% increase compared with a year earlier, Reuters reported Wednesday, citing industry sources. Representatives for Airbus did not immediately respond to a request for comment from MT Newswires.

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