European stocks were slightly higher on Thursday despite stalled Brexit and U.S. stimulus talks.
Focus shifted towards a European Central Bank meeting later in the day amid expectations the central bank will increase and extend its pandemic bond-buying program.
The announcement is due at 7.45 am ET. ECB President Christine Lagarde is set to hold the customary press conference at 8.30 am ET.
The pan European Stoxx 600 was marginally higher at 395 after closing up 0.3 percent on Wednesday. The German DAX was little changed, while France's CAC 40 index rose 0.4 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained half a percent.
Norwegian aluminium and renewable energy company Norsk Hydro ASA rose about 2 percent. The company said that it will present its strategic direction toward 2025, at the Capital Markets Day.
Dutch life insurer Aegon NV declined 1.5 percent. The company said it is targeting a reduction on its gross financial leverage to 5.0 billion euros - 5.5 billion euros by 2023 from 6.6 billion euros on June 30, 2020.
Tour operator TUI AG lost 3.3 percent. The company reported that its fiscal 2020 loss attributable to shareholders was 3.08 billion euros, compared to last year's profit of 532 million euros.
Instrumentation and controls company Spectris rose over 1 percent after it announced the divestment of its Brüel & Kjær Vibro and Millbrook businesses.
Ocado Group shares slumped 4 percent despite the online supermarket lifting its full-year profit forecast.
Industrial and electronics products group Electrocomponents surged 4.4 percent after it unveiled two acquisitions.
In economic releases, French industrial output climbed 1.6 percent month-on-month in October, the same rate of increase as seen in September, official data showed. This was the sixth consecutive rise in production and faster than the economists' forecast of 0.4 percent.
The U.K. economy expanded for the sixth straight month in October but the pace of growth moderated as expected, data from the Office for National Statistics revealed.
Gross domestic product climbed 0.4 percent month-on-month, slower than the 1.1 percent growth seen in September. This was the sixth consecutive monthly growth.
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