Europe midday: Shares flat on eurozone PMI data

European equities were flat on Wednesday after survey data showed eurozone manufacturing slipped into recession at the start of the fourth quarter and investors waited on the outcome of the US Federal Reserve's two-day policy meeting.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index rose 0.39% by 0835 GMT, with most major regional bourses higher. Markets expect a 50-basis point rise in December from the Fed as central bankers juggle the need to combat inflation while avoiding tipping the economy into recession.

Manufacturing within the single currency bloc clearly fell into a recession at the start of the fourth quarter, the results of a closely followed survey revealed.

The final reading for S&P Global's Eurozone factory sector Purchasing Managers' Index revealed a slide from a reading of 48.4 for August to 46.4 in September - the lowest reading since May 2020.

That was also worse than the consensus forecast and preliminary reading of 46.6.

In Germany, official data showed the domestic labour market remained resilient last month with unemployment claims rising by less than expected.

According to the Federal Labor Agency, the rate of unemployment was steady versus the month before at 5.5%, as expected. However, jobless claims undershot forecasts, increasing by 8,000 versus a consensus of 15,000.

In equity news, drug maker Novo Nordisk rose as it raised its full-year earnings outlook on strong sales of diabetes treatment Ozempic and also reported a better-than-expected profit.

UK pharma giant GSK made slight gains, despite the company smashing earnings forecasts for the third quarter and lifting its annual outlook.

Meanwhile, luxury automaker Aston Martin fell 10% as it warned supply-chain disruptions would hit margins.

Shipping group Maersk fell 4.4% as it downgraded its forecast for global container demand growth, even though third-quarter earnings topped expectations.

The Norwegian freight giant said demand for its containers was falling amid the European energy crisis and sky-high inflation. It warned of “plenty of dark clouds on the horizon” as it slashed its forecast for demand for 2022 as a whole to a fall of 2-4% compared with last year.

Shares in online grocery delivery and warehouse tech designer Ocado fell as JPMorgan Cazenove downgraded its stance to ‘underweight’ from ‘neutral’ as it argued that the customer fulfilment centre (CFC) pipeline rollout was likely to remain slow.

On Tuesday, Ocado announced that it had signed a partnership between Ocado Solutions and Lotte Shopping, one of the largest business conglomerates in South Korea, to develop Lotte's online business with the Ocado Smart Platform, sending the shares up more than 30%.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com