European stocks edged higher Thursday, with investors showing a degree of confidence even after U.S. President Donald Trump's latest salvo of trade tariffs.

At 03:05 ET (07:05 GMT), the DAX index in Germany gained 0.4%, the CAC 40 in France climbed 0.4% and the FTSE 100 in the U.K. rose 0.8%.

New U.S. tariff rates
On Wednesday, U.S. President Donald Trump sent letters dictating new U.S. tariff rates on at least seven more countries' imports, adding to the letters sent to 14 other countries earlier this week.

He also announced a 50% tariff on Brazil after a spat with his Brazilian counterpart, with Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva responding that new tariffs would be met with reciprocal measures.

The U.S. president also announced a 50% tariff on copper, making good on his earlier threat of such a move.

However, European investors have been somewhat buoyed by the fact that the European Union has avoided the latest round of U.S. tariffs, suggesting a deal between the two sides may be close.

EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic said good progress had been made on a framework trade agreement and a deal may even be possible within days.

German inflation confirmed at ECB's target
German inflation eased to 2.0% in June, the European Central Bank's target level, confirming preliminary data.

German consumer prices, harmonised to compare with other European Union countries, had risen by 2.1% year-on-year in May.

The ECB is expected to wait until September to cut its key policy rate again as officials eye ongoing trade uncertainty and the recent appreciation of the euro, according to analysts at Capital Economics.

In June, the ECB slashed borrowing costs for the eighth time in a year, bringing its key deposit rate down by 25 basis points to 2.0%.

Across the pond, investors will keep an eye on the weekly jobless claims data as another gauge of the strength of the U.S. labor market, while Federal Reserve's Christopher Waller and Mary Daly are set to speak during the session.

Source: Investing.com