Global Stocks

European stocks finished higher Wednesday, with surges in shares of French firms LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton and Peugeot SA helping to offset a drop in Deutsche Bank AG shares after the German lender's profit plunged.

The Stoxx Europe 600 SXXP, +0.43% rose 0.4% to end at 342.74.

U.S. stocks ended slightly lower Wednesday after the Federal Reserve said improving economic conditions could justify an interest-rate hike as soon as September. The S&P 500 SPX, -0.12% shed 3 points, or 0.1% to 2,166, as declines in utilities and consumer-staples shares weighed on the index. The Dow industrials DJIA, -0.01% finished flat at 18,472, despite a strong performance by Apple Inc. AAPL, +6.50% which reported stronger-than-expected quarterly earnings late Tuesday. The Nasdaq Composite gained 30 points, or 0.6%, to 5,139. Economic data released Wednesday seemed to contradict the Fed's sanguine outlook. Durable-goods orders sank in June at the fastest clip in nearly two years.

Asian stocks edged up on Thursday after the Federal Reserve provided an positive assessment of the world's largest economy and lifted risk sentiment.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS was up 0.2 percent after briefly climbing to its highest level since August 2015.

Australian shares rose 0.4 percent and Shanghai .SSEC gained 0.3 percent, trimming some of the heavy 1.9 percent loss suffered the previous day.

News that Chinese regulators are planning a tough clampdown on wealth management products to curb risks to the country's banking system had weighed heavily on Chinese stocks, but investors are still wading through the details.

Japan's Nikkei fell 0.7 percent, hurt by a stronger yen and nerves before the Bank of Japan's monetary policy decision on Friday.