European Stocks Close Mixed After Cautious Session

(RTTNews) - European stocks ended on a mixed note on Tuesday with investors largely making cautious moves ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement, due on Wednesday.

A downward revision in global growth forecast by the International Monetary Fund weighed on sentiment. Investors also digested a slew of earnings updates from Europe and the U.S.

Growing energy crisis remained on investors' radar after Russian state-owned energy company Gazprom said it will further cut gas flows through Nord Stream 1, Russia's biggest gas pipeline to Europe.

The pan European Stoxx 600 edged down 0.03%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 settled flat, while Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 drifted down 0.86% and 0.42%, respectively. Switzerland's SMI ended 0.24% down.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Finland, Ireland, Poland, Spain, Sweden and Turkey closed weak.

Czech Republic, Denmark, Norway and Russia ended higher, while Greece, Iceland, Netherlands and Portugal settled flat.

In the UK market, Compass Group, Unilever, Admiral Group, AstraZeneca, Dechra Pharmaceuticals, Phoenix Group Holdings, Glencore, National Grid, Smith & Nephew and Centrica gained 1 to 3.5%.

EasyJet gained about 1%. The low-cost carrier said that it expects the capacity and cost impacts of the disruption to be "a one-off this summer", with "greater resilience" forecast for the 2023 peak travel periods.

Kingfisher plunged more than 8.5%. JD Sports Fashion shed about 8%. Vodafone Group, Hargreaves Lansdown, Howden Joinery, B&M European Value Retail, ABRDN and Ocado Group lost 3 to 5.2%.

Rolls Royce Holdings ended more than 4% down. The aerospace and defense firm named a private equity partner and former BP executive to succeed Warren East as the company's chief executive.

In Germany, Sartorius, Siemens Healthineers, Fresenius, Henkel, RWE and MTU Aero Engines closed with sharp to moderate gains.

Zalando plummeted nearly 10%. HelloFresh declined 7.3%. Deutsche Wohnen, Adidas, Puma, Covestro, HeidelbergCement, Vonovia, BMW, BASF, Daimler, Deutsche Bank, Volkswagen and Infineon Technologies also ended sharply lower.

Stratec shares ended 12% down after the company, which develops and produces analyzer systems and automation systems in the field of in-vitro-diagnostics, said it expects consolidated sales to be 137.2 million euros for the first half of 2022 compared to 155.8 million euros last year.

In the French market, Sodexo, Thales, Sanofi and Danone gained 1.3 to 2.1%.

Faurecia plunged more than 7%. Atos, Veolia, Valeo, Renault, Saint Gobain, Essilor, LVMH, ArcelorMittal, Kering, Michelin and Hermes International lost 1 to 5%.

Swiss Bank UBS tanked nearly 10% after reporting weaker-than-expected profit in the second quarter.

Chocolate maker Lindt & Spruengli surged 5.7% after raising its sales guidance and unveiling a 1 billion Swiss franc ($1.04 billion) share buyback program.

In economic news, the International Monetary Fund cut its global growth projections for 2022 and 2023, dubbing the world's economic outlook "gloomy and more uncertain."

The IMF now expects the world economy to grow 3.2% this year, before slowing further to a 2.9% GDP rate in 2023. The revisions mark a downgrade of 0.4 and 0.7 percentage points, respectively, from its April projections.

UK retailers expect sales volume to decline more markedly next month as consumers struggle to cope with the effects of the cost of living crisis, the Distributive Trades Survey results from the Confederation of British Industry showed.

A net 4% of retailers reported a fall in sales volume in July compared to -5% in June. This was the fourth consecutive month in which sales volumes have failed to grow. However, a net 14% expect sales to decline again in August.