The main European equity benchmarks are now registering large falls ahead of the release of the results of Spain’s stress-test for its financial system, which are expected out towards 3PM.
Weak quarterly earnings out from US outfit Nike, overnight, due to weakness in Chinese demand are also a contributing factor to the weakness in bourses.
H&M is off after SEB AB and CA Cheuvreux SA advised investors to sell the shares. Air France is gaining 4% after an upgrade out of analysts at UBS AG.
From a sector stand-point the best performers now are: Construction (-1.52%), Banks (-1.43%) and Utilities (-1.33%).
Unexpected rise in Eurozone prices
Eurozone consumer prices rose at a 2.7% year-on-year clip in September (Consensus: 2.4%), after a rise of 2.6% in the previous month.
German retail sales fell by 0.8% year-on-year in August (Consensus: -0.9%). The previous month’s reading however has been revised down to show a drop of 1.6% year-on-year (Consensus: -1.0%).
Other asset classes edge up
The euro/dollar is now edging up by 0.12% to the 1.2932 dollar level.
Front month Brent crude futures are now rising by 0.489 dollars, to the 112.58 dollar mark on the ICE.
LONDON (SHARECAST) - -Banks deposit 288bn euros overnight at ECB
