11:45 AM EDT, 07/09/2026 (MT Newswires) -- European stock markets were tracking mostly higher Thursday as traders monitored the rise in hostilities between the US and Iran, which threatened to derail peace talks between the two countries.

The Stoxx600 was up 0.8%, Germany's DAX was adding 0.9%, France's CAC was rising 0.9%, while the UK's FTSE 100 was easing 0.2%.

In a post on X, US Central Command said it completed a second round of strikes, hitting 90 more Iranian military targets. The US military had struck 80 Iranian targets the day before in response to Iran's attacks on three commercial ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz. President Donald Trump told reporters that Iran had reached out and "badly" wanted to make a deal to halt the escalating hostilities in the Middle East. Trump said he does not know if the two nations are returning to an all-out conflict, but added that the US would win "very quickly" if the war resumed.

In economic news, Germany's international trade surplus reached 19.1 billion euros in May, up from 14.7 billion euros in April, and also an increase from 18.8 billion euros in May a year earlier, Destatis reported.

In corporate news, Nokia said Thursday that its defense business and NestAI are building capabilities for AI-enabled defense operations under their technology partnership. The companies are working to integrate Nokia's 5G networks with NestAI's NestOS for battlefield operations, supporting command and control, autonomous systems, and reducing reliance on fixed communications infrastructure. Nokia shares jumped past 9% in Helsinki.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals and partner AstraZeneca said a phase 3 trial for eplontersen in patients with transthyretin-mediated amyloid cardiomyopathy did not meet the primary efficacy endpoint. AstraZeneca shares fell past 7% in London.

BP will push decision-making closer to the "frontline" and seek greater financial accountability and discipline, said Meg O'Neill, the British energy giant's new CEO, on the social-media platform Linkedin on Thursday. After 100 days in her position, O'Neill said BP needs to be made simpler, with "clear accountability, decisions closer to the frontline--where work-- happens-and less complexity." BP shares were down 1.9% in London.

TotalEnergies said Thursday it sold its 170-megawatt distributed solar portfolio across seven European countries to Amarenco and AMPYR Distributed Energy. The company said the divestment aligns with its strategy to focus renewable development on large utility-scale solar and wind projects. TotalEnergies shares fell 1% in Paris.

Barclays is preparing to sell about $875 million of debt financing to support Blackstone and Tinicum's acquisition of UK aerospace supplier Senior, Bloomberg reported Thursday. The financing includes a $685 million senior secured term loan, a $190 million term loan, and a $150 million revolving credit facility, the report said. Barclays is leading the bank group arranging the debt, it added. Barclays shares rose past 2% in London.

SAP has agreed to legally binding commitments to address EU antitrust concerns over its maintenance and support services for on-premises enterprise resource planning software, the European Commission said Thursday. Under the commitments, the regulator said SAP will allow customers greater flexibility to split support across different providers, terminate licenses and maintenance contracts in certain circumstances, eliminate reinstatement fees, reduce back-maintenance charges, broaden access to alternative licensing models and establish an internal process to resolve disputes over compliance. SAP shares were shedding 0.5% in Frankfurt.

Palantir is challenging London Mayor Sadiq Khan's decision to block a contract with the Metropolitan Police at London's High Court, arguing that the mayor's office wrongly took into account the company's "values and ethics," Reuters reported. Palantir had signed a two-year, 50 million British pounds ($67.1 million) contract with the London police to use AI to automate some tasks, the report said, adding that the mayor's office refused to approve the deal because the force did not have an open competition for the contract.