European Shares Decline Amid Earnings Deluge

(RTTNews) - European stocks were subdued on Wednesday, as investors digested a slew of mixed earnings reports from the region and kept a wary eye on the situation in the Middle East amidst reports of an imminent ground invasion of Gaza by Israel.

Traders also waited to see if the European Central Bank would raise rates on Thursday against the backdrop of weakening economic activity and cooling inflation.

Meanwhile, Germany's business confidence improved in October, survey results from the ifo Institute showed earlier today.

The business climate index rose to 86.9 in October from 85.8 in the previous month. The reading was well above economists' forecast of 85.9.

The pan European STOXX 600 was down 0.4 percent at 433.45 after closing up 0.4 percent on Tuesday.

The German DAX slipped 0.2 percent and France's CAC 40 shed 0.3 percent while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was marginally higher.

Worldline shares were suspended after plunging more than 50 percent earlier. The French payment company cut its revenue forecast for the year as the economic slowdown hurt its business in key markets including Germany.

Swedish bank SEB tumbled 4 percent despite beating analyst estimates for third-quarter net income.

Telenor ASA rallied 2.3 percent in Oslo after the Norwegian Telecom major reported higher third-quarter results and updated its guidance for fiscal 2023.

BP Plc and Shell were little changed in London as oil prices rebounded following China's approval of a mega sovereign bond issue.

GSK rose about 1 percent after announcing "positive" preliminary results from the third phase of its trial of Arexvy, a vaccine against the potentially fatal respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) that causes lower respiratory tract disease.

Reckitt Benckiser plunged 5.3 percent after the maker of Dettol and Lysol cleaning products missed third quarter like-for-like sales expectations.

Precious metals miner Fresnillo lost about 2 percent after both silver and gold output fell in the third quarter.

Essentra, a leading provider of essential components and solutions, slumped 7.6 percent after saying it expects full year adjusted operating profit to be "towards the lower end" of its expectations.

China-exposed luxury group Kering lost nearly 4 percent after revenue declined in Q3. Dassault Systemes jumped 6.5 percent after the software maker raised its 2023 profit outlook.

Frankfurt-listed shares of Alphabet plunged 6.5 percent after revenue from Google's Cloud division missed estimates.

Microsoft rallied 3.4 percent after beating Wall Street estimates in all segments.

Deutsche Bank soared 8 percent as the lender flagged dividends and buybacks over the next two years after posting better-than-expected third-quarter profit.

Nivea maker Beiersdorf AG rose about 1 percent after raising its full-year sales guidance.