European Shares Inch Higher On Earnings

European stocks were moving higher in cautious trade on Wednesday, as a slew of upbeat earnings updates outweighed renewed concerns about Beijing’s regulatory crackdown on tech and education companies.

Investors await the outcome of a Federal Reserve meeting later in the day for clues on stimulus tapering.

The pan European Stoxx 600 rose 0.3 percent to 460.15, snapping a two-session losing streak as Google, Apple and Microsoft all reported record earnings.

The German DAX edged up 0.2 percent, France’s CAC 40 index climbed 0.6 percent and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 was up 0.3 percent.

U.K. lender Barclays jumped 4.2 percent as interim net profits surged more than five-fold on lower-than-expected credit losses linked to the COVID pandemic.

German peer Deutsche Bank edged down slightly despite posting better-than-expected second-quarter profits and raising its revenue outlook for next year.

Wholesale retailer Metro AG climbed 3.1 percent after raising its outlook for the fiscal year.

French information technology firm Capgemini rallied 3 percent after raising its 2021 targets.

Wizz Air Holdings surged 5.2 percent. The London-listed airline said it expects to operate at around 90 percent to 100 percent of its 2019 capacity for July and August.

In economic releases, Germany’s consumer confidence is set to remain unchanged in August as the weakness in economic and income expectations were offset by the improvement in the propensity to buy, survey results from the market research group GfK showed.

The forward-looking consumer sentiment held steady at -0.3 in August while economists had forecast the index to improve to +1.0. The survey was conducted between July 1 and 12.

Elsewhere, U.K. house prices grew 10.5 percent year-on-year in July, slower than the 13.4 percent increase posted in June, data published by Nationwide Building Society revealed. This was also weaker than the economists’ forecast of 12.1 percent.

A measure of French consumer confidence index fell to 101 from a revised 103 in June. Economists had expected the reading to remain steady at June’s initial score of 102.

Market Analysis