European Stocks Close On Mixed Note

European stocks turned in a mixed performance on Monday with investors digesting a slew of earnings announcements and the latest batch of economic data, and looking ahead to the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy announcement, due on Wednesday.

The Fed is widely expected to raise interest rate by 75 basis points. CME Group’s FedWatch tool is currently indicating a 77.5% chance of a 75 basis point interest rate hike and a 22.5% chance of a 100 basis point rate hike.

The pan European Stoxx 600 edged up 0.13%. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 climbed 0.41% and France’s CAC 40 gained 0.33%, while Germany’s DAX drifted down 0.33%. Switzerland’s SMI gained 0.3%.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Finland, Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Spain and Turkey closed higher.

Denmark, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Poland and Sweden ended weak.

In the UK market, Standard Chartered gained about 3.2%. Glencore, Anglo American Plc, Airtel Africa, Natwest Group, HSBC Holdings and Tesco moved up 2 to 2.5%.

Barclays, BT Group, Rio Tinto, Aviva, Centrica, Mondi, Shell, British American Tobacco, Lloyds Banking Group, Phoenix Group, Reckitt Benckiser and Smith (DS) also ended notably higher.

Endeavour Mining, Ocado Group, Haleon, Fresnillo, Dechra Pharmaceuticals, Intertek Group, Howden Joinery Group, Aveva Group, RS Group and Scottish Mortgage ended lower by 2 to 4.5%.

In the French market, Faurecia rallied 2.8%. BNP Paribas, Renault, Engie, Societe Generale, Credit Agricole, Bouygues, AXA and Danone gained 1 to 2.1%.

Orange shares gained nearly 1% after the company signed a binding agreement with MasMovil to combine their businesses in Spain.

Atos declined about 4.6%. Legrand, Teleperformance, Thales and Publicis Groupe also ended weak.

In Germany, Daimler, Bayer, Merck and BMW gained 1 to 1.5%.

Sartorius, Vonovia, Zalando, SAP, Siemens Healthineers, Puma, Symrise, Deutsche Wohnen and Porsche Automobil lost 1 to 4%.

Volkswagen shed about 1%. The German automaker announced that it has appointed Oliver Blume takes over as new Chairman with effect as of 1 September 2022.

Dutch medical equipment firm Philips plummeted nearly 8% after missing its Q2 forecasts by a significant margin. The company cut its estimate for full-year sales growth to 1%-3%, from 3%-5%, while forecasting second-half growth of 6% to 9% on a strong order backlog.

In economic releases, survey results from Ifo Institute showed that Germany’s business confidence deteriorated more than expected in July.

The business confidence index came in at 88.6 in July as both current assessment and expectations of firms deteriorated in the month. The reading was forecast to fall to 90.2 from 92.2 in June.

The UK manufacturing output and orders grew at slower rates in the quarter to July, following a period of exceptionally strong growth over the previous year, the Industrial Trends survey results from the Confederation of British Industry/Accenture showed.

The output balance fell to +6% in three months to July from +25% in the quarter to June. Again a net 6% expects output growth to expand in three months to October.

Business optimism declined for the third straight quarter. Nonetheless, the score rose to -21% from -34% in the quarter to April.