Dipo Olowookere
By Investors Hub
European stocks have moved lower on Tuesday as global growth worries resurface and U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May’s much-anticipated “plan B” on Brexit looked like a tweaked version of her Plan A, which suffered a historic parliamentary defeat last week.
The IMF once again cut its global growth forecasts, citing the threat of a trade war, stalled Brexit talks and slowing Chinese growth.
While the U.K.?s FTSE 100 Index has dropped by 0.5 percent, the German DAX Index and the French CAC 40 Index are both down by 0.4 percent.
UBS Group has tumbled after the Swiss banking giant warned on client activity in the first quarter, despite reporting a profit in its fourth quarter compared to the prior year’s hefty loss.
British online trading platform IG Group has also slumped after reporting declines in first-half profit and revenues.
Rémy Cointreau has also dropped. The wine and spirits company confirmed its full-year operating profit outlook after reporting higher sales of 919.4 million euros in the first nine months of the year.
On the other hand, low-cost airline EasyJet has soared. The company’s expectations for full-year headline profit before tax remain broadly in line with current market expectations.
German luxury fashion brand Hugo Boss has also jumped after reporting higher sales in its fourth quarter.
In economic news, the U.K’s official jobless rate unexpectedly ticked down to 4.0 percent in November, while the claimant count change showed a bigger than expected increase.
