European Shares Slide As Investors Await Earnings

European stocks fell on Tuesday as investors fretted about issues including inflation, pressures on quarterly earnings and China Evergrande Group’s debt crisis.

Traders also awaited cues from the U.S. corporate earnings season, with analysts expecting companies to report slowing growth due to supply-chain snags and rising prices.

The pan European Stoxx 600 dropped 0.3 percent to 456.39 after ending flat with a positive bias on Monday.

The German DAX fell half a percent, France’s CAC 40 index shed 0.6 percent and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 was down half a percent.

Lonza Group advanced 1.2 percent. The Swiss chemicals and technology company updated its 2024 Group and divisional mid-term guidance driven by strong momentum across businesses.

Givaudan fell over 1 percent despite the fragrance and flavour maker reporting decent sales growth in the first nine months of the year.

DSV gained 1.6 percent after the transport company raised its earnings expectations for the year.

easyJet lost 2.2 percent. The airline said, during fourth quarter, it flew 17.3 million seats, operating 58 percent of fiscal 2019 capacity with a stronger performance on intra-European and U.K. domestic routes.

De La Rue shares rallied 2.5 percent. Issuing a trading update for the six months ended 25 September 2021, the passport and banknote printer said outlook for the financial year 2021/22 continues to be in line with the Board’s expectations.

EKF Diagnostics Holdings jumped 2.6 percent. The maker of central laboratory products said it has completed the acquisition of ADL Health, a PCR-focused testing laboratory.

Societe Generale SA was moving lower. The French bank said that it will cut 3,700 jobs between 2023 and 2025, as part of a plan announced last year to merge its domestic retail operations.

Gerresheimer AG shares surged 3 percent. The German company reported higher earnings for the third quarter, reflecting strong revenue growth.

In economic releases, German wholesale prices grew 13.2 percent annually in September, following August’s 12.3 percent increase, Destatis reported.

The last time there was a higher increase than in the same month of the previous year was in June 1974, when wholesale prices rose 13.3 percent in the wake of the first oil crisis.

U.K. retail sales grew only 0.6 percent on a yearly basis in September after rising 3 percent in August, data published by the British Retail Consortium and KPMG revealed. At the same time, like-for-like sales fell 0.6 percent annually.

The German ZEW Economic Sentiment index arrived at 22.3 in October, down from 26.5 previous. The Eurozone ZEW Economic Sentiment for the month fell to 21.0 for the current month as compared to the 31.1 previous.