12:09 PM EST, 01/28/2025 (MT Newswires) -- The European stock markets closed mostly higher in Tuesday trading as The Stoxx Europe 600 rose 0.45%, Germany's DAX gained 0.70%, the FTSE 100 in London was up 0.35%, France's CAC 40 was off 0.12%, and the Swiss Market Index closed 0.31% higher.

The European Central Bank said in a quarterly survey Tuesday that there was a tightening of credit standards for business lending in the euro area in Q4. The ECB said stricter criteria were due to heightened economic risks and lower bank appetite for risk.

In France, the consumer confidence index increased in January for the first time in three months, according to the Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. The index that tracks household confidence rose to 92 from 89 in December but remains below its long-term average of 100.

And in corporate news, Alphabet's Google unit urged the Court of Justice of the European Union on Tuesday to annul a 4.1 billion euro ($4.28 billion) antitrust fine, saying that the penalty unfairly targeted its innovation and market success, according to multiple media reports. The fine was initially imposed in 2018 after EU regulators decided Google had abused its Android operating system's dominance.

Alphabet, Google and the Court of Justice of the European Union did not immediately respond to requests for comments from MT Newswires.

HSBC plans to wind down its mergers and acquisitions and equity underwriting operations in the UK, Europe and the Americas, shifting its focus to Asia and the Middle East, multiple news outlets reported Tuesday, citing an internal staff memo.

British pharmaceutical company GSK (GSK) said Tuesday that regulators in Europe, Japan and China have accepted separate applications to review its depemokimab drug candidate for a pair of asthma indications.

French energy company TotalEnergies (TTE) signed a 15-year contract to supply an overall volume of 1.5 TWh of renewable electricity to French semiconductor company STMicroelectronics' (STM) sites in France, according to a statement Tuesday.

JPMorgan Chase (JPM) is negotiating to rent 150,000 square feet of space at the Canary Wharf office in London that used to be Credit Suisse's headquarters in the UK, Bloomberg reported Tuesday, citing people with knowledge of the talks. UBS Group (UBS) has been looking to sublet the space since acquiring Credit Suisse, the report said. JPMorgan and UBS declined to comment on the report when contacted by MT Newswires.