By Sukriti Gupta and Purvi Agarwal
(Reuters) -European shares logged their third session of declines on Thursday as uncertainty over the future moves of central banks grew, while investors parsed a new raft of corporate earnings.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index fell 0.1% and most regional bourses also ended the day in the red.
The U.S. Federal Reserve cut interest rates on Wednesday but Chair Jerome Powell said another reduction could be out of reach this year, causing investors to dial back bets on a December cut.
Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior market analyst at Swissquote Bank, said the hawkish stance on the December cut was “leading to a bearish readjustment of the market expectations and some pull-down in the risk sentiment”, stressing major global indexes.
The European Central Bank’s meeting was uneventful as it held rates steady on Thursday and gave nothing away on future actions.
INDUSTRIAL STOCKS ARE BIGGEST DRAG
Industrial stocks were the biggest drag on the STOXX 600.
Schneider Electric fell 3.3% despite beating organic growth forecast, while defence firm Kongsberg Gruppen bottomed the benchmark index with an 18.3% decline on plans to spin off its maritime business.
Automobile stocks fell the most. Stellantis slid 8.9% after flagging one-off charges related to changes in regulation, strategy and products.
Meanwhile, three of the biggest U.S. technology companies flagged plans on Wednesday to accelerate capital spending over the next year.
“(These) results paint a pretty picture for the AI trade… Spending is going up across the board as demand remains robust, and as supply remains constrained. Until those dynamics flip, AI will remain the main game in town,” said Ben Barringer, head of technology research at Quilter Cheviot.
Technology stocks were the top gainers, up 0.9%.
Among others, WPP plunged 16% after it warned on profit again and its new CEO said it would take time to turn around the company.
Societe Generale fell 3.6% after its CEO declined to commit to handing over more excess capital to shareholders.
ING gained 5.8% after the lender announced plans to allocate 1.6 billion euros ($1.9 billion) on share buybacks and dividends.
Standard Chartered rose 3.6% after saying it would hit a key profitability target a year earlier than expected.
Airbus climbed 2.1% after its third-quarter earnings topped expectations.
Novo Nordisk fell 3.6% after entering the bidding war with Pfizer for U.S.
biotech Metsera, while Puma declined 8.3% after an over 15% fall in third-quarter sales.
On the trade front, the U.S. struck a deal to trim tariffs on China in exchange for Beijing resuming U.S.
soybean purchases, keeping rare earths exports flowing and cracking down on the illicit trade of fentanyl.
(Reporting by Sukriti Gupta and Purvi Agarwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema, Vijay Kishore and Ed Osmond)
