European indexes pared gains to close slightly lower yesterday after more weak corporate and economic data in the United States and Europe heightened fears over the growth outlook.
The FTSEurofirst 300 closed down 0.03 per cent at 1,147.38 points, having fallen from a session high of 1,154.62, to post its fifth straight day of falls and take its second-quarter decline to 3.5 per cent.
Banks were the worst-hit sector, down 1.1 per cent, with French bank Societe Generale among the top fallers, down 3.5 per cent.
Traders cited weak results from US peer Morgan Stanley as contributing to the decline.
That followed forecast-lagging earnings from European firms including Sodexo and Nokia, down 9.6 per cent and 8.3 per cent, respectively.
Overall, STOXX Europe 600 companies are set to under-shoot first-quarter earnings expectations by 3.9 per cent, according to Thomson Reuters StarMine.
“We’re going into this earnings season with very low expec-tations. That’s not a problem in and of itself, it’s how much better or worse we do than that,” Daniel Morris, market strategist at JPMorgan Asset Manage-ment, said.
Sentiment was further bruised after several US economic data releases came in...
↧