The majority of stock indices of the largest countries in Western Europe are down at the beginning of trading as investors are evaluating companies’ quarterly reports.
In addition, bidders are waiting for news from the U.S., where the midterm elections in Congress will be held on Tuesday and the latest data on inflation will be published on Thursday, according to Trading Economics.
The Stoxx Europe 600 composite index of the region’s largest companies was down 0.22% at 417.41 points by 10:25 a.m. A day earlier it hit a seven-week high.
Germany’s DAX indicator fell 0.1% from market opening, Britain’s FTSE 100, France’s CAC 40 and Italy’s FTSE MIB – 0.5%, Spain’s IBEX 35 – 0.4%.
Retail sales in Britain rose 1.2% in October compared with the same month last year, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC). The pace of growth slowed from a 1.8 percent rise in September as consumers continued to struggle with rising costs of living.
BRC head Helen Dickinson notes that Britons are struggling to make ends meet, especially as mortgage payments rise. Paul Martin, head of retail at KPMG, also noted that the increase in retail sales in October was due to higher prices and “does not reflect the true picture of falling volumes, although consumers are buying fewer items in-store.”
Persimmon’s stock price plunged 8 percent after the British construction company said it expects sales to fall in 2023. They are the fall leader among Stoxx 600 components.
German chemical and pharmaceutical concern Bayer AG boosted its net profit 6.4 times in the third quarter, confirming its financial outlook for the full year 2022. Nevertheless, the profit was worse than market forecasts, and stock quotes of the company decreased by 0.8%.
Volvo Car stock price is down 0.3%. The Swedish carmaker said it will sell China’s Geely Automobile its 33% stake in their joint venture that makes Aurobay powertrains.
Renault’s value fell 4.3 percent. The French carmaker announced its intention to increase operating profitability by spinning off its electric car business into a separate company.
At the same time, the stock price of Associated British Foods Plc is up 3.4%. The retailer announced the launch of a £500 million ($576 million) buyback program for its shares, as well as a dividend increase.
The value of Pandora jumped 6.3%. The chain of jewelry stores increased its net income in the third quarter to 734 million Danish kroner ($99 million) from 635 million kroner in the same period a year earlier while revenues rose 11% to 5.26 billion kroner. The company also reaffirmed its key financials forecast for the full year.
Pandora shares show the highest growth rate among the companies included in the Stoxx 600 calculation.
Oil prices increased on Tuesday on the news about the growth of number of coronavirus in China.
January futures on Brent crude oil on London’s ICE Futures Exchange fell by $0.96 (0.98%) to $96.96 per barrel by 12:51 pm (EET).
By the same time quotations of futures on WTI for December dropped by $1.19 (1.30%) to $90.60 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX).
The day before Brent price went down by 0.7% and WTI, by 0.9%.
On Monday over 7 thousand new cases of COVID-19 were registered in China, which is the maximum in 6 months. In this regard, Beijing confirmed that it intends to continue mass testing and introduction of lockdowns to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
Oil demand in China, the world’s largest fuel importer, is one of the key factors influencing oil market dynamics.
“The market believes that if China opens its economy, it will sharply reduce the oil surplus in the market and put upward pressure on futures,” said Price Futures Group analyst Phil Flynn.
In addition, traders expect a partial embargo on Russian oil supplies to Europe, imposed in response to Russia’s continued full-scale war against Ukraine, to take effect soon. “Many expect the battle for free barrels to begin in December, especially in the eurozone,” said Bob Yager of Mizuho.
Germany is providing EUR7.6 million to the International Commission on Missing Persons project to help Ukraine find those missing as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the German embassy in Ukraine said.
“Germany is providing EUR7.6 million to the International Commission on Missing Persons project to help Ukraine find those missing as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Training for Ukrainian forensic experts and investigators is also planned,” the embassy said in a Twitter post Tuesday.Germany to allocate more than EUR 7 million to help Ukraine find war missing – embassy
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will attend the summit of the leaders of the G20 (G20) countries, presidential press secretary Serhiy Nikiforov told Suspicious.
“In some format, of course, Vladimir Zelensky will participate in the G20 summit. I can’t say more,” Nikiforov pointed out, noting that it’s probably about the online format.
The G20 summit will be held in Bali, Indonesia, on November 15-16.
Asian stock indices are changing in different directions in the course of trading on Tuesday.
Investors are awaiting the outcome of the midterm elections to the U.S. Congress, as well as fresh data on inflation in that country, which may determine the Federal Reserve’s further policy on raising interest rates, MarketWatch reports.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index was up 1.3 percent at 7:27 a.m. on good quarterly company reports.
Shares of Yamaha Motor Co. (+12.7%) demonstrated the most significant rise among components of the indicator. The company’s January-September revenue rose 23% to 1.677 trillion yen ($11.44 billion) and operating profit jumped 13% to 174.19 billion yen, thanks to higher prices and sales of motorcycles and boat engines.
Shimadzu Corp. gained 6%. The maker of precision measuring instruments posted a net profit of 24.5 billion yen ($167.1 million) in the first fiscal period (April-September) compared with 20.49 billion yen in the same period last year.
In addition, large companies such as SoftBank Group (+5.2%), Sony Group (+3.4%), Fast Retailing (+0.1%), Toyota Motor (+0.6%) and Nintendo (+1.6%) rose in value.
South Korea’s Kospi index was up 1% by 8:27 MSK.
One of the world’s biggest chip and electronics maker Samsung Electronics Co. gained 2.5% while Hyundai Motor dropped 0.3%.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index rose 0.4%, ending “in the plus” for the third straight session.
Including the shares of all the four largest banks in the country went up: the Commonwealth Bank – by 1.4%, ANZ Bank – 0.3%, Westpac Banking – 2% and National Australia Bank – 0.7%.
At the same time stock quotes of the world’s largest mining company BHP declined by 0.3%.
China’s Shanghai Composite Index was down 0.65% by 8:32 a.m. Moscow timeframe, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was down 0.6%.
Shares of restaurant chain owner Haidilao International Holding Ltd. (-4.5%), Internet companies Baidu (-3.5%) and Meituan (SPB: 3690) (-3%), brewery Budweiser Brewing Co. APAC Ltd. (-3.3%).
In addition, shares of Tencent Holdings Ltd. (SPB: 700) were down 0.3%, retailer Alibaba Group (SPB: BABA) – by 3.2%, carmaker BYD – by 2.6%.
The Antonov State Enterprise (Kiev) has started the construction of a second An-225 Mriya aircraft to replace the one destroyed by the Russians in February during the hostilities in Gostomel (Kiev region), said Yevhen Gavrilov, director general of the enterprise
“The works are being carried out in a secret location. The second An-225 will be built using both new parts and parts of the damaged aircraft,” Gavrilov told Bild.
According to him, the second Mriya is already 30% ready. The construction cost is estimated at EUR500 million.
Gavrilov said that at an exhibition at the Leipzig/Halle International Airport, where Antonov Airlines is temporarily based, there are plans to organize a sale of merchandise to raise funds for the construction of the aircraft.
Meanwhile later the company clarified that there are some inaccuracies in the previously publicized information: only design work has begun and there are only 30% of components for the new aircraft.
“Design work in this direction has now begun. According to the available expert estimates, there are currently about 30% of the components that can be used for the second prototype aircraft. The cost of building the aircraft is estimated at least at EUR500 million. However, it is still too early to talk about the specific amount,” clarified the SE “Antonov”.
Besides, the company added that “more detailed information will be disseminated after Ukraine wins the war”.
