European Shares Decline On Growth Worries

(RTTNews) - European stocks fell in cautious trade on Tuesday, as investors digested weak GDP data from China and awaited earnings reports from Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley later in the day that will provide guidance about the health of the world's largest economy.

IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland that global economic growth will bottom out this year.

In economic releases, data showed the U.K. unemployment rate stabilized at 3.7 percent in three months to November, as expected.

The pan European STOXX 600 slipped 0.2 percent to 453.88 after gaining half a percent on Monday to reach its highest level in nine months.

The German DAX, France's CAC 40 and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 all were down around 0.2 percent.

Ocado Retail, a joint venture between Ocado Group and Marks & Spencer Group, slumped nearly 6 percent after saying it expects 'mid-single digits' sales growth for 2023.

Online retail platform THG lot about 3 percent after revenue growth missed its target.

China-exposed HSBC, Prudential, Kering and LVMH were moving lower as China reported its second-lowest annual economic growth in almost 50 years.

Recruitment agency Hays rallied 2.4 percent after posting a rise in its second-quarter net fees.

Danone fell about 1 percent in Paris after it announced a global action plan to reduce absolute methane emissions from its fresh milk supply chain by 30 percent by 2030.

The company plans to remove 1.2 million tons carbon dioxide equivalent of methane emissions by 2030.

Nordex AG, a German wind turbine maker, fell 2.2 percent after it posted a decline in order intake for its wind turbines the fourth-quarter and full-year, amidst a challenging market environment.

Luxury fashion brand Hugo Boss AG dropped 2 percent. The company said that its fourth-quarter preliminary sales grew 18 percent to 1.07 billion euros from last year's 905 million euros. Quarterly sales exceeded the 1 billion euros mark for the first time in its history.