LONDON — European stocks were higher on Tuesday as global markets searched for direction amid earnings, rising Covid-19 cases, Chinese tech regulation and U.S. growth worries.
TICKER COMPANY NAME PRICE CHANGE %CHANGE VOLUME
.FTSE FTSE 100 FTSE 7093.05 11.33 0.16 225634803
.GDAXI DAX DAX 15553.92 -14.81 -0.10 24044556
.FCHI CAC 40 Index CAC 6729.38 53.48 0.80 30931850
The pan-European Stoxx 600 climbed 0.35% by early afternoon, with oil and gas stocks surging 2.6% on the back of a strong earnings report from BP, while travel and leisure stocks fell 1.7% as Covid-19 concerns continued to weigh.
Major markets in Asia-Pacific were mostly lower on Tuesday as Hong Kong-listed Chinese online gambling shares plunged after being described as “opium” by Chinese state media.
Stateside, stock futures were higher in premarket trade after concerns about slowing growth sparked a sell-off on Wall Street in the previous session, while the spread of the delta Covid-19 variant continued to hamper sentiment.
Tuesday marks another big day for corporate earnings in Europe, with BP, Standard Chartered, BMW and Societe Generale among the big names reporting.
BP beat second-quarter earnings to report an underlying replacement cost profit of $2.8 billion, while growing its dividend by 4% and vowing $1.4 billion of share buybacks in the third quarter. The oil and gas giant’s shares jumped 5.6%.
Societe Generale beat profit expectations to report a net income of 1.44 billion euros ($1.71 billion) for the second quarter, vastly outstripping the 704 million euro net profit projected by analysts, according to Refinitiv. The French bank was buoyed in particular by a rebound in domestic retail banking. Shares surged 7.4% by early afternoon trade.
Stellantis raised its full-year profit margin target after strong first-half results, sending Milan-listed shares in the world’s fourth-largest carmaker, formed by the merger of PSA and Fiat Chrysler, 4% higher on Tuesday.
At the bottom of the Stoxx 600, British engineering firm Smiths Group fell 8.2% after agreeing to a $2.3 billion sale of its medical division.
BMW fell 4% after warning that the global semiconductor shortage and high raw material prices will weigh on earnings in the second half.
On the data front, euro zone producer prices accelerated again in June on the back of higher energy prices, hitting 1.4% month-on-month for a 10.2% annual increase.
