Stock indices of the largest countries of Western Europe at the beginning of trading on Friday demonstrate negative dynamics, including due to weak quarterly reports of companies.
In addition, investors are worried about the possibility of a deterioration in the state of the world economy against the background of aggressive actions of a number of the largest central banks to curb inflation, reports Trading Economics. The unstable political situation in Great Britain is also negative for the markets.
The composite index of the largest companies in the Stoxx Europe 600 region decreased by 1.5% and amounted to 392.81 points by 11:31 CST.
Since the opening of the market, the German DAX indicator has decreased by 1.6%, the British FTSE 100 – by 0.7%, the French CAC 40 – by 1.7%. The Italian FTSE MIB fell by 1.6%, the Spanish IBEX 35 – by 1.9%.
One of the world’s leading manufacturers of sports goods, adidas AG, for the third time since the beginning of the year, has worsened forecasts of financial indicators for 2022 due to growing stocks of unsold goods and coronavirus restrictions in China. Also, the German company presented preliminary reporting for the third quarter, according to which profit from continuing operations fell 2.7 times, mainly due to a one-time write-off due to the curtailment of operations in the Russian Federation.
Adidas shares fell in price by 8.5% and are the leader of the decline among the components of the Stoxx 600. Quotations of shares of competitors Puma and JD Sports Fashion also decrease – respectively by 5.6% and 5.3%.
The Swedish telecommunications operator Telia in July-September increased its net profit by 8% – up to 1.71 billion crowns ($151.8 million). However, the result did not justify the analysts’ expectation of 2.1 billion euros. The company’s stock price fell by 8.2%.
Quotations of Vivendi shares fall by 4.2%. French media conglomerate Vivendi SA in the third quarter increased revenue by 4.1% to 2.578 billion euros. At the same time, the revenues of the television division of Canal+ Group decreased by 3.3% – to 1.419 billion euros. It turned out to be worse than the consensus forecast.
The value of French L’Oreal, one of the world’s largest cosmetics manufacturers, and Kering SA, which owns well-known fashion brands, decreased by 4.3% and 4.4%, respectively, despite good reporting for the last quarter.
Renault shares fell by 2.2%, although the French automaker also increased revenue in July-September stronger than forecast.
At the same time, the shares of the British food delivery service Deliveroo Plc added 3.2% in price. Gross transaction volume (GTV) in the third quarter increased by 8% and reached 1.7 billion pounds ($1.91 billion).
Retail sales in Great Britain in September fell by 1.4% compared to the previous month, the country’s National Statistics Office reported on Friday. Experts on average expected a decrease of only 0.5%, reports Trading Economics.
Meanwhile, the British consumer confidence index in October increased by 2 points and amounted to minus 47 points, reports GfK NOP Ltd. This is the first increase in the indicator in almost an hour. Prior to that, he had been updating record lows for several months in a row since the beginning of counting, that is, since 1974. At the same time, analysts expected further deterioration of the indicator – on average to minus 52 points.
