By Pranav Kashyap
(Reuters) – Europe’s benchmark index fell on Thursday, dragged down by dour corporate earnings, with the benchmark set to record its worst monthly performance in a year.
The pan-European STOXX 600 was down 0.7%, falling to its lowest level in nearly two months.
The index is down 2.9% for the month, poised to drop for a second straight month, and is set to log its worst monthly performance since October 2023. Its previous steepest monthly drop in that period was a 1.5% decline in April.
This month’s sentiment was heavily influenced by the nail-biting U.S. presidential election. The uncertainty surrounding who will take up residence in the White House sent a wave of investors scurrying towards safe-haven assets like gold and the U.S. dollar.
“Trump threatening so many tariffs – that concerns what is this going to mean for international trade. We’re likely going to see a decrease in productivity in a lot of companies that deal with the U.S., so investors are concerned,” said Daniela Hathorn, senior market analyst at Capital.com.
All the STOXX 600 sub-sectors were trading in the red, with the retail sector falling the most, with a 2.3% decline.
Rate-sensitive real estate stocks also fell over 1%.
Technology stocks dropped 1.1%.
Overnight, results from Meta and Microsoft showed Big Tech is stepping up AI investments but the lack of quick and big returns has worried investors. [.N]
“The results were a little bit underwhelming for investors and you saw that weakness in the Nasdaq, adding to weaker sentiment in the STOXX 600,” Hathorn said.
Among individual stocks, TotalEnergies lost 2.4% after the French oil major’s third-quarter adjusted net income hit a three-year low.
BNP Paribas tumbled 6.2% after the lender reported third-quarter results that lagged its forecast-beating rivals.
Anheuser-Busch InBev lost 3.9% after the Budweiser maker missed estimates for third-quarter profit, revenue and sales volume.
Smith + Nephew slumped 12.4% after the medical products maker cut its annual underlying revenue growth forecast.
Shell gained 1% after the energy giant’s quarterly profit of $6 billion beat forecasts.
Airbus rose 2.4% after the planemaker picked a successor for its jet-making arm, while the CEO stays on.
On the data-front, French preliminary inflation was at 1.5% in October, while German retail sales unexpectedly rose in September.
Investors now await Euro zone’s flash CPI, Italy’s preliminary CPI figures for October, and the bloc’s employment data for September. All of them are set to drop at 1000 GMT.
(Reporting by Pranav Kashyap in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D’Souza and Sonia Cheema)
