European Stocks Turning In Mixed Performance In Cautious Trade

European stocks are turning in a mixed performance on Tuesday as investors largely refrain from making significant moves ahead of monetary policy announcements from the Federal Reserve and the Bank of England, due on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively.

The Swiss National Bank, the Norges Bank and the Riskbank are also scheduled to announce their monetary policies during the course of this week.

UK inflation data is due as well. Headline annual inflation in the U.K. is seen rising to 7% in August, from 6.8% in the previous month. Core inflation is however seen edging down to 6.8%, from 6.9% a month earlier.
Given the inflationary situation, the Bank of England is widely expected to raise rates by another 25 basis points in the review to be announced on Thursday.

The pan European Stoxx 600 is up 0.13%. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 is advancing 0.15% and France’s CAC 40 is gaining 0.25%, while Germany’s DAX and Switzerland’s SMI are edging down 0.11% and 0.1%, respectively.
France’s CAC 40
Switzerland’s SMI

In the UK market, TUI is rising more than 6%. Hargreaves Lansdown, Phoenix Holdings, Legal & General, Smurfit Kappa Group, ITV, Fresnillo, Land Securities, M&G and British Land Company are gaining 1.5 to 2.5%.

Kingfisher is down more than 6% after downgrading its annual profit forecast. Burberry Group is declining 1.6%, while Royal Mail, Halma, AstraZeneca and Melrose Industries are down 1 to 1.25%.

In the German market, Vonovia is rising nearly 4%. Volkswagen is rallying 2.85% and HeidelbergCement is up 2%. Deutsche Boerse, E.ON and Continental are also notably higher.

Deutsche Post is declining more than 4%. MTU Aero Engines, Sartorius, Adidas, Porsche, Symrise and Siemens are down 1 to 2.5%.

In Paris, Renault is surging 2.6% and Edenred is gaining about 2.1%. BNP Paribas, Stellantis, TotalEnergies, WorldLine, Capgemini, Teleperformance and AXA are up 1 to 1.7%.

Legrand is down 1%. Societe Generale, which plunged sharply on Monday, is extending its losses, and is down by about 1%.

On the economic front, final data from Eurostat showed Eurozone inflation slowed slightly in August, coming in at 5.2%, down from 5.3% in July. Initially, the rate was seen unchanged at 5.3%.

However, core inflation that excludes energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, was confirmed at 5.3%. The core rate eased from 5.5% in July.

Data released by the European Central Bank showed the euro area current account surplus declined to EUR 21 billion in July from EUR 36 billion in the previous month. The decline was largely due to the fall in the visible trade surplus. In the same period last year, the account posted a EUR 22 billion deficit.

Switzerland’s foreign trade surplus increased in August as exports rose faster than imports, data from the Federal Customs Administration showed on Tuesday.

The trade surplus rose to CHF 3.21 billion in August from CHF 2.55 billion in the previous month. In real terms, exports rebounded 5.9% monthly in August versus a 4.9% decline in July. Similarly, imports logged a 1.5% gain in August, in contrast to a 1.8% gain in July.

In nominal terms, exports and imports grew by 3.8% and 6.6%, respectively.