(Reuters) – European shares opened higher on Wednesday, tracking an advance in U.S. stock futures, as Donald Trump claimed victory in the presidential election and Republicans took control of at least one chamber of Congress.
Fox News projected that he had defeated Democrat Kamala Harris although other news outlets had yet to call the race for Trump.
The pan-European STOXX 600 added 1.1% as of 0810 GMT, with healthcare’s 2.6% rise leading gains.
Novo Nordisk added 7.4% after the weight-loss and diabetes drugmaker reported better-than-expected quarterly sales of its popular Wegovy weight-loss drug and narrowed its 2024 outlook for the year.
Futures tracking the S&P 500 jumped as much as 1.8%.
Trump has already won the swing states of North Carolina, Georgia and Pennsylvania and holds leads in several others, according to Edison Research.
Shares of European renewable energy companies came under pressure. Earlier this year, Trump had said that he would halt offshore wind development.
Oersted and Vestas fell more than 10% each, while the broader utilities sector was down 1.3%.
Trump’s policies on immigration, tax and tariffs are generally viewed as inflationary, which could prompt higher U.S. interest rates.
Among other earnings-driven moves, BMW slipped 6.1% after the German automaker reported a 61% drop in its quarterly third-quarter profit that missed analyst expectations.
German medical technology company Siemens Healthineers added 8.1% after reporting revenue growth and full-year adjusted earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) in line with estimates.
(Reporting by Shashwat Chauhan in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)
