This was CNBC's live blog covering European markets.

LONDON — European markets closed the first quarter of 2024 around 6.8% higher Thursday as recent inflation data continues to show pressures from higher prices are cooling.

The Stoxx 600 index closed 0.23% higher for the day, after hitting yet another all-time high in March — rising above 513 points during the session. It was the best quarter in a year, according to Lseg data, and the best month since December 2023.

Markets will remain closed for Good Friday and Easter Monday, with most trading in the region not resuming until Tuesday.

Travel stocks, which led gains throughout the day were around 0.95% higher, while utilities dipped by 0.5%. JD Sports Fashion jumped by as much as 16% on Thursday after the company issued a trading update that calmed investor concerns about the retailer's outlook.

On the data front, gross domestic product figures Thursday confirmed that the U.K. economy fell into a recession in 2023 with a 0.3% contraction in the final quarter. Germany's statistics agency meanwhile said employment nudged fractionally higher in February.

Globally, U.S. stocks were trading near the flatline as the S&P 500 approached its best first-quarter performance in five years.

Overnight in the Asia-Pacific region, Japan stocks fell the most among Asian markets while Australian stocks hit a record high, helped by a boost from mining shares.

JD Sports soars 16% as trading update calms investor concerns

Shares of JD Sports were last over 16% higher on Thursday after it released a trading update that eased investors concerns after the British retailer issued a profit warning in January.

2024 full-year profit before tax is expected to be in line with the forecasted range and after the first seven weeks of the new financial year, trading is in line with expectations, the company said.

However the trading environment remains "challenging" due to additional promotions and less product innovation, Regis Schultz, CEO of JD Sports Fashion said in a statement.

"We anticipate trading conditions will improve as we move through the year, helped by a busy sporting summer and softer comparatives with last year," he added.

— Sophie Kiderlin

U.S. stocks open unchanged on last trading day of the month

U.S. stocks opened flat on the last trading day of the month and quarter.

The S&P 500 opened unchanged, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 70 points, or 0.2%. The Nasdaq Composite slid 0.3%.

— Lisa Kailai Han

Markets to march higher even if the Fed chooses not to cut rates this year, economist says

Steven Blitz, chief U.S. economist at TS Lombard, says markets are likely to push on, even if the Federal Reserve chooses not to cut interest rates this year.

Speaking to CNBC's "Squawk Box Europe" on Thursday, Blitz said the prospect of one or no Fed rate cuts in 2024 was "getting pretty good."

"It's a very big, diverse economy and it's a very big country. So, you never have all geographic regions and every industry in every corner of the country doing well. There are always leaders [and] laggards, it's just the nature of the beast, right?" Blitz said.

"The equity investor's job is to pick out what's doing better, you know, where the value is but as an economist stepping back, you say no there is no reason for the equity market to go down."

Take a look at the full story here.

— Sam Meredith

Bank of England could cut rates before the Fed as U.K. inflation eases, strategist says

Lindsay James, investment strategist at Quilter Investors, outlines the outlook for global monetary policy and stock markets.

Strong results reflect greater underwriting discipline, Lloyd’s of London chair says

Bruce Carnegie-Brown, chairman of insurer Lloyd's London, discusses the company's strongest financial results in years.

Italian consumer confidence falls as business sentiment rises

Consumer confidence in Italy declined slightly in March, statistics agency Istat said Thursday, bucking a broader European trend of improving sentiment.

However, Italian business confidence improved, particularly in manufacturing and construction.

Consumer price inflation in Italy is running much lower than the euro zone average of 2.6%, coming in at 0.8% year on year in February.

— Jenni Reid

Europe stocks open higher Thursday

European stocks opened higher Thursday and continued gains through early trade, with the regional Stoxx 600 index up 0.2% at 8:40 a.m. in London.

Market movements have been muted this week, but major bourses were all in the green Thursday morning, with the U.K.'s FTSE 100 and France's CAC 40 both up 0.3% as Germany's DAX rose 0.15%.

— Jenni Reid

German employment slightly higher as retail sales improve

Figures from Germany on Thursday provided cautiously good news for Europe's biggest economy, which is struggling with stalling growth.

A "slight upward trend" in employment continued in February, statistics agency Destatis said, with the number of people in work nudging higher by 14,000 last month, up 0.4% on the same period of last year.

The business climate in the retail sector meanwhile "brightened noticeably in March," according to a survey from the Ifo Institute.

Retailers were more optimistic across a range of sectors, while fewer were suffering from supply challenges.

"The pessimism that has been such a feature of recent times is receding. Business in the run-up to Easter has apparently brought a ray of hope for many retailers," Ifo specialist Patrick Höppner said.

— Jenni Reid

UK recession confirmed by fourth-quarter data

The U.K. economy fell into a recession in the second half of last year, final data published by the Office for National Statistics confirmed Thursday.

Gross domestic product fell by an unrevised 0.3% in the fourth quarter, the ONS said, following a 0.1% contraction in the third quarter.

Output declined in the final quarter of 2023 across the U.K.'s three main sectors of services, production and construction. Net trade, household consumption and gross capital formation were all lower.

— Jenni Reid

Renault Group completes share sale to Nissan for $387 million

France's Renault Group on Thursday completed the sale of 99,132,100 shares in Nissan back to the Japanese company for 358 million euros ($387 million).

The trade of Renault's roughly 2.5% stake generated slightly less than the 362 million euros that Renault had anticipated it may bring in with a sale of more than 100 million shares.

Renault on Thursday said that the cash inflow would improve its net cash financial position, allow faster deleveraging and support its aim of returning to an investment grade rating.

Renault previously sold a 5% stake back to Nissan in December, as it looks to reduce its ownership to 15% from around 43%.

The sales come as the companies restructure their longstanding alliance.

— Jenni Reid

CNBC Pro: Is it time for investors to hedge for a market decline? The pros share their views and strategies

Are markets rising too much, too fast?

After hitting a record high earlier this month, the S&P 500 again notched a new closing high — along with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq Composite.

Last week, Goldman Sachs told clients they should start hedging for a market decline.

Find out what other pros say, and what hedging strategies to use.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Weizhen Tan

CNBC Pro: Now that Nvidia's launched powerful AI chips, Goldman expects these 3 stocks to get a boost

In the wake of Nvidia's launch of powerful new artificial intelligence chips, Goldman Sachs is predicting major growth for memory chips used in AI systems.

The investment bank expects the total addressable market for HBM to expand tenfold to $23 billion by 2026, up from just $2.3 billion in 2022.

The Wall Street bank sees three major memory makers as prime beneficiaries of the booming HBM market. Investors can buy three stocks through concentrated exchange-traded funds or diversified funds.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Ganesh Rao

European markets: Here are the opening calls

European markets are set to open higher Thursday.

The U.K.'s FTSE 100 index is expected to open 31 points higher at 7,958, Germany's DAX up 56 points at 18,532, France's CAC 30 points higher at 8,228 and Italy's FTSE MIB up 71 points at 34,273, according to data from IG. 

Earnings will come from Lloyd's of London and JD Sports Fashion is set to issue a trading update. German unemployment data and Italian consumer confidence data for March are due.

— Holly Ellyatt