ECB minutes due at 1230 GMT
Trading subdued due to U.S. holiday
Adevinta jumps as it confirms FY target

Nov 24 Reuters European stocks hit fresh threemonth highs on Thursday after minutes from the Federal Reserve39;s November meeting signalled a slowdown in the pace of interest rate hikes, with investors looking for fresh cues from the European Central Bank ECB.

The panEuropean STOXX 600 index rose 0.3 to its strongest level since Aug. 19, although trading volumes were light due to a U.S. market holiday for Thanksgiving.

Wall Street ended with solid gains on Wednesday after the U.S. central bank39;s meeting minutes showed a substantial majority of policymakers agreed it would likely soon be appropriate to slow the pace of interest rate hikes.

It was in line with expectations around signalling smaller rate hikes, however, also underscoring that the terminal rate will be higher, said Karim Chedid, head of investment strategy for iShares EMEA at BlackRock.

What is different for the ECB is that the recession we39;re expecting for Europe is going to be more protracted. It means that the ECB may not be able to go as far as the Fed and they will have to eventually start cutting rates sooner than the Fed.

The European Central Bank will release at 1230 GMT the minutes of its October meeting, where it raised interest rates by 75 basis points but said substantial progress had already been made in its bid to fight off a historic surge in inflation.

Adding to the positive…