European stocks traded in a mixed fashion Thursday, with investors digesting developments in Greenland and Iran, as well as stronger than expected growth data from the U.K..

At 03:20 ET (08:20 GMT), the DAX index in Germany dropped 0.2% and the FTSE 100 in the U.K. fell 0.1%, while the CAC 40 in France gained 0.1%. 

Greenland, Iran development in focus

Geopolitics remains to the fore Thursday after U.S. President Donald Trump expressed optimism about reaching an agreement on Greenland, following high-level meetings between U.S. officials and Danish and Greenlandic foreign ministers.

“I think something will work out,” Trump said regarding Greenland, even as Denmark’s foreign minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen stated there is a “fundamental disagreement” with the U.S. after talks at the White House.

The comments came after Danish and Greenlandic foreign ministers met with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance at the White House. 

French President Emmanuel Macron has convened an emergency defence cabinet to discuss the situation, with a group of French military personnel heading to Greenland to participate in an exercise organised by Denmark and Greenland, an overseas Danish territory.

Allied nations including Germany, Norway and Sweden have already begun deploying troops to Greenland in a show of support.

Helping overall sentiment was a lessening of tensions surrounding Iran, with President Trump saying he had been told that killings in Iran’s crackdown on protests were easing and that he believed there was no current plan for large-scale executions.

Trump’s comments came after fears grew in the Middle East that Washington could launch strikes, following his repeated threats to intervene on behalf of Iranian protesters.

U.K. economy grew in November

Away from geopolitical developments, data released earlier Thursday showed that Britain’s economy grew by a better-than-expected 0.3% in November.

Economists had forecast that British gross domestic product would expand by 0.1% on a month-on-month basis.

The Bank of England expects Britain’s economy to have shown zero growth in the October-to-December period of 2025 although it thinks underlying growth is running at about 0.2% a quarter.

Richemont reports strong rise in Q3 sales 

Turning to the European corporate sector, Richemont (SIX:CFR) is in the spotlight after the Swiss luxury goods group reported a rise in third-quarter sales, as strong demand in the Americas, Japan and the Middle East helped offset currency effects.

Elsewhere, Mitchells & Butlers (LON:MAB) reported robust first quarter trading results with like-for-like sales growth of 4.5%, with the pub and restaurant operator demonstrating continued market outperformance across all segments of its business.

U.K. homebuilder Taylor Wimpey (LON:TW) said it expects its operating profit margin to come under pressure in 2026, pointing to a weaker opening order book and softer pricing on bulk sales.

U.K. asset manager Schroders (LON:SDR) said its 2025 annual results are expected to be ahead of market expectations, as income rose and costs remained flat.

On Wall Street, there are more bank earnings to digest later in the session, this time from Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) and Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS), as well as numbers from investment management company BlackRock (NYSE:BLK).