Forexpros – European stock markets were broadly lower on Tuesday, as investors digested earnings from some of Europe’s largest companies, while U.S. futures indexes pointed to a lower open on Wall Street amid worries over a lack of progress in U.S. debt talks.
During European morning trade, the EURO STOXX 50 slumped 0.6%, France’s CAC 40 dropped 0.9%, while Germany’s DAX 30 fell 0.4%.
Swiss banking giant UBS saw shares drop 2.5% after it reported second quarter net profit of EUR882 million, falling short of market expectations for profit of EUR1.19 billion, as a strong Swiss franc, falling client volumes and lower trading income weighed on results. UBS said it would slash costs and cut jobs to offset the weakness.
Meanwhile, shares in Germany’s largest lender Deutsche Bank edged 0.5% lower after it said second quarter profit rose 3.3% to EUR1.2 billion, slightly lower than expectations of EUR1.32 billion. The lender said the results included a EUR155 million pretax impairment on its Greek government bond holdings.
Shares in Europe’s largest chipmaker STMicroelectronics tumbled 8.5% after it said second quarter revenue fell 1.5% to EUR1.77 billion. The company warned of lower-than-expected third quarter profit, due mostly to difficulties at leading customer Nokia.
In London, the FTSE 100 fell 0.4% as shares in oil giant British Petroleum sank 2.5% after it said second quarter earnings totaled GBP3.43 billion, missing expectations of GBP3.7 billion, as lower production volumes following suspension of drilling in the Gulf of Mexico weighed on results.
On the upside, shares in oil and gas explorer BG Group jumped 2.85% after it reported better-than-expected second quarter profit, as revenue grew by 25% to GBP3.14 billion.
Earlier in the day, official data showed that second quarter U.K. gross domestic product increased 0.2%, broadly in line with market expectations.
Meanwhile, the outlook for U.S. equity markets was modestly lower ahead of earnings reports from online retailer Amazon, automaker Ford and global shipping company United Parcel Service.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a loss of 0.1%, the S&P 500 futures eased down 0.15%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures dipped 0.05%.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to publish government data on new home sales, as well as data on consumer confidence and house price inflation.
Forexpros
