European Stocks Close On Weak Note After Cautious Session

European stocks closed lower on Wednesday, tracking weakness in the U.S. market amid uncertainty about the outcome of the U.S. midterm elections.

According to reports, the Republicans are likely to earn a narrow majority in the House. Several candidates backed by former President Donald Trump have reportedly underperformed.

Investors also digested a slew of earnings announcements.

The pan European Stoxx 600 ended 0.3% down. The U.K.’s FTSE 100, Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 edged down by 0.14%, 0.16% and 0.17%, respectively. Switzerland’s SMI climbed 0.71%.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Russia and Sweden closed weak.

Czech Republic, Finland, Greece, Portugal and Spain ended higher, while Iceland, Poland and Turkiye closed flat.

In the UK market, Ocado Group drifted down 5%. Informat, Harbour Energy, Glencore, Shell and Vodafone Group ended lower by 2 to 4%.

Melrose Industries, BT Group, Natwest Group, Pearson and ICP also ended notably lower.

Smiths Group, Associated British Foods, Admiral Group, Haleon, RS Group, Persimmon, Taylor Wimpey, Berkeley Group Holdings, Fresnillo, AstraZeneca, Dechra Pharmaceuticals and GSK gained 1.5 to 3.6%.

In the German market, Covestro ended lower by about 3.7%. Bayer, Zalando, HelloFresh, Deutsche Bank, Continental, BASF, Daimler and Infineon Technologies lost 1 to 2.3%.

Lender Commerzbank tumbled more than 7% after reporting a 52% fall in its third-quarter net profit.

Evotec plunged nearly 10% after the drug discovery development company kept its outlook for FY22 unchanged.

Siemens Healthineers surged nearly 4%. Adidas gained about 3.75% and Vonovia climbed 2.5%, while RWE, Henkel, Symrise, Merck, Brenntag and Munich RE gained 1 to 2%.

In Paris, Renault, Faurecia, Valeo, ArcelorMittal and Vivendi lost 2 to 4%. Atos, Societe Generale and Air France-KLM also ended notably lower.

Carrefour, Danone and Publicis Groupe gained 1 to 1.5%.