Europe markets open higher; luxury stocks pop on Richemont results, LVMH up 8%

Shares of Cartier owner .

— Karen Gilchrist

The December retail sales report due out Thursday is expected to show a 0.5% increase, down from a 0.7% rise the previous month, according to a Dow Jones consensus estimate.

Excluding autos, it’s expected to have risen 0.4% last month, up from a 0.2% gain in the prior reading.

The data is set to release 8:30 a.m. ET.

— Sarah Min

After delaying the launch of its latest Assassin’s Creed game and hiring advisors to review its options, Ubisoft has been shrouded in speculation over whether a potential takeover could be in the works.

The French video game publisher last week pushed back the release date for “Assassin’s Creed Shadows” to March.

It also appointed advisors to review “transformational strategic and capitalistic options to extract the best value for stakeholders.”

Ubisoft said it would “inform the market in accordance with applicable regulations if and once a transaction materializes.”

CNBC spoke to industry analysts about which names they think could emerge as potential buyers of the game maker. Click here to read the full story.

– Ryan Browne

European markets are expected to open in mixed territory Thursday.

The U.K.’s FTSE 100 index is expected to open 9 points higher at 8,306, Germany’s DAX down 26 points at 20,595, France’s CAC down 15 points at 7,475 and Italy’s FTSE MIB up 8 points at 35,705, according to data from IG.

Trading updates are set to come from Whitbread, Deliveroo and Richemont, while Rio Tinto releases its latest operational review. Data releases include German inflation figures and U.K. monthly gross domestic product.

— Holly Ellyatt