European Stocks Turn in Lacklustre Performance as Investors Watch Earnings Outcomes
By Investors Hub
European stocks are turning in a lackluster performance on Friday as earnings proved to be a mixed bag and investors kept an eye on multiple speeches from Fed officials due later today for further insight on inflation and interest rates.
While the U.K.?s FTSE 100 Index is down by 0.2 percent, the French CAC 40 Index is just above the unchanged line and the German DAX Index is up by 0.3 percent.
Royal Bank of Scotland shares have tumbled despite the bank posting its first annual profit in a decade. Similarly, British Airways owner IAG has moved lower despite reporting an increase in 2017 profits and launching a 500 million euro share buyback.
French auto parts maker Valeo has plunged after its 2017 net profit fell from last year due to adverse exchange rate movements and higher raw material costs.
Meanwhile, reinsurer Swiss Re has jumped after saying it is carefully assessing the strategic and financial implications of an approach by Softbank about taking a minority stake.
Oil services firm Subsea 7 has also climbed after announcing it is in talks to form a joint venture with Schlumberger.
BT Group has rallied in London after the telecom regulator eased price controls on the company’s network subsidiary Openreach.
Publishing and education company Pearson has also jumped as it returned to profit from a loss of 2.34 billion pounds last year.
In economic news, Germany’s economy expanded as initially estimated in the fourth quarter largely on foreign demand, a report from Destatis showed.
GDP grew 0.6 percent sequentially, slower than the 0.7 percent expansion seen in the third quarter and in line with the estimate published on February 14th.
