European Stocks Close Broadly Lower As Investors React To Earnings

(RTTNews) - European stocks closed on a mixed note on Thursday with investors digesting a slew of earnings updates, and continuing to assess the likely move on global central banks with regard to interest rates.

Several ECB officials have warned that central banks need to move carefully on cutting interest rates this year.

ECB member Isabel Schnabel said in an interview with the Financial Times that recent data and market bets on quick rate cuts mean the central bank needs to be patient before easing policies.

The pan European Stoxx 600 edged down 0.07%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 drifted down 0.44%. Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 climbed 0.25% and 0.71%, respectively. Switzerland's SMI ended down 0.64%.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Poland, Portugal and Russia ended weak.

Belgium, Greece, Netherlands, Spain and Turkiye closed higher, while Sweden ended flat.

In the UK market, DS Smith soared more than 10%. British American Tobacco surged about 7.5% after an announcement that it plans to sell some of its stake in India's cigarette-to-hotels conglomerate ITC.

Smurfit Kappa Group gained 6%. Unilever climbed higher after launching a 1.5-billion-euro ($1.6 billion) share buyback. Compass Group, Diploma, Admiral Group, 3i, Halma, Entain and Beazley advanced 1.5 to 3.2%.

Flutter Entertainment, Kingfisher, Experial, Spirax-Sarco Engineering and Ocado Group also ended notably higher.

AstraZeneca tanked about 7% after reporting lower-than-expected profit. SSE ended down 4.7%. Mondi, Antofagasta, JD Sports Fashion, Barratt Developments, Standard Chartered, Taylor Wimpey, Coca-Cola, National Grid, Marks & Spencer and Rolls-Royce Holdings lost 1.7 to 3%.

In the German market, Infineon rallied 4.7%. Continental and BMW gained about 3.1% and 2.7%, respectively. Zalando, Mercedes-Benz, Deutsche Post, Siemens and RWE advanced 1 to 2%.

Siemens Energy ended down 3.7% and Bayer settled 3% down. HeidelbergCement, Adidas, Commerzbank, Hannover Rueck ended lower by 1 to 2.3%.

In Paris, Kering gained about 5.7%. ArcelorMittal gained 5% despite posting a net loss of USD 2,966 million during the December quarter.

Unibail Rodamco, STMicroElectronics, LVMH, Renault, Stellantis, Dassault Systemes, Hermes International and Publicis Groupe gained 2 to 5%.

Credit Agricole dropped nearly 6%. Sanofi ended 2% down, while Thales, Bouygues and Air Liquide ended lower by 1.4 to 1.6%. AXA and Vinci also ended notably lower.

Danish carrier Maersk plunged 14.7% after it reported a net loss of $442 million for the fourth quarter of 2023.

Dutch payments company Adyen NV soared more than 21% after reporting a significant increase in net profit for the second half of fiscal 2023.

UK starting salary inflation reached the lowest in nearly three years in January amid rising staff supply, a report compiled by S&P Global showed.

Permanent salary inflation remained high in January but the rate of growth was the softest since March 2021, the KPMG/REC Report on Jobs said.