European shares struggle for direction with US election in spotlight

By Shashwat Chauhan

(Reuters) -Europe's STOXX 600 flitted between gains and losses on Tuesday as investors gauged a slew of downbeat earnings, including from Danish firm Vestas and UK's Schroders (LON:SDR ), while all eyes remained on the U.S. presidential election.

The pan-European benchmark was trading 0.2% higher, after slipping as much as 0.2% earlier in the session. Basic resources led gains in the benchmark index with a nearly 1% jump.

Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump remain neck-and-neck in opinion polls, with voters due to cast their ballots later in the day, although the winner will likely not be known for days after voting ends.

"A full sweep for Trump is probably good news for U.S. domestic equities, bad news for European and international equities," said Ben Ritchie, head of developed market equities at abrdn.

"If Harris wins, the market reaction will probably be fairly muted, although you may see something of a relief in European and international equities."

Trump's policies on immigration, tax and tariffs are generally viewed as inflationary, which could prompt higher U.S. interest rates.

Vestas, the world's largest maker of wind turbines, slid 10.5% after reporting a lower-than-expected third-quarter operating profit, and also forecast its full-year operating profit margin to be at the lower-end of its target range.

Schroders dropped 10.3% after the British asset manager reported net outflows of client funds of 2.3 billion pounds ($3 billion) for the quarter ended Sept. 30.

Shares of Ambu lost 11.1% after the Danish medical equipment maker reported organic sales growth and EBIT below estimates seen in a company-compiled consensus.

On the bright side, utilities added 0.6%, lifted by a nearly 3% rise in UK water utility Severn Trent (LON:SVT ) after JP Morgan and Citigroup upgraded their rating on the stock.

Bouygues (EPA:BOUY ) added close to 4% after the French construction-to-telecoms group posted its nine-month core earnings slightly above expectations.

Syensqo rose 5.6% after the Belgian chemical maker unveiled plans to cut around 2% of its workforce and tightened its annual underlying profit forecast for the second time since August.

Germany's Salzgitter (ETR:SZGG ) surged 30% after the steelmaker said its second-biggest shareholder GP Günter Papenburg was considering a potential takeover of the company jointly with a partner.



Another keenly awaited event this week is the U.S. Federal Reserve's interest rate decision on Thursday, with markets all but convinced it will opt for a 25-basis-point cut.

The Bank of England is also expected to ease its policy by 25 bps this week, while rate decisions will also be announced by Norway and Sweden.

Source: Investing.com