Europe midday: Stocks pare early falls

By midday European equities had pared earlier losses, with periphery stocks managing to cross into the blue.

Sentiment had been weighed down at the start of trading by news of an Ebola case – but not contagion – in New York and a report that Chinese house prices fell in September.

Analysts however are stressing that it is not a case of contagion but rather of a healthcare worker recently returned from travels in Africa.

Also weighing on markets was the 11% drop in shares of US internet retailer Amazon.com in extended hours trading after the company’s third quarter results last night.

Stock in Microsoft on the other hand was higher by 3% after the company updated investors with its own numbers.

As of 12:15 the Dax 30 was lower by 26 points to 9,021.15, while the FTSE Mibtel had turned around to trade higher by 0.40% and the Ibex 35 by 0.14%.

Home prices in China dropped in September in 69 of 70 cities monitored by authorities in Beijing, with falls of 0.7% month-on-month reported in Beijing and another 0.9% in Shanghai.

Market commentary was also focusing on this coming weekend’s European bank ‘stress test’ results.

Shares in Swedish truck-maker Volvo rocketed 12% after the company announced a 54% increase in its cost-cutting target.

Several media organisations are also highlighting the weakness reported in Unilever’s China sales yesterday.

German chemicals giant BASF predicted it would no longer hit its profits targets for 2015.

From a sector stand-point the worst performance on the DJ Stoxx is now being seen in the following industrial groups: Chemicals (-1.03%), Oil&Gas (-0.95%) and Retail (-0.65%).

German consumer confidence edges higher

An index of German consumer confidence rose to a reading of 8.5 points in November, after a print of 8.4 in the month before (consensus: 8), survey compiler GfK said.

Crude futures slip

Front month Brent crude futures are lower by 0.80% to $86.13 per barrel on the ICE.

The euro/dollar was edging higher by 0.03% to 1.2648.