European Stocks Close Broadly Lower Ahead Of Fed Policy Decision

(RTTNews) - European stocks closed lower on Wednesday with investors largely making cautious moves, digesting earnings and economic news, and looking ahead to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement, due later in the day.

The Fed widely expected to raise interest by another 75 basis points. The focus is on the accompanying statement for clues about the outlook for future rate hikes.

The Bank of England is scheduled to announce its monetary policy on Thursday. The BoE is also expected to raise interest rate by 75 basis points.

The pan European Stoxx 600 ended 0.28% down. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 ended lower by 0.53%, Germany's DAX shed 0.61% and France's CAC 40 drifted down 0.83%. Switzerland's SMI gained 0.21%.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Denmark, Greece, Poland, Sweden and Turkiye closed higher.

Belgium, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal and Spain ended weak, while Czech Republic and Russia settled flat.

In the UK market, British American Tobacco ended lower by 5.3%. Antofagasta drifted down 4.47%. Croda International, Anglo American Plc, Melrose Industries, Rio Tinto, and Informa lost 2 to 3.25%.

Smurfit Kappa Group lost more than 2% despite delivering strong performance for the first nine months of 2022.

Rolls-Royce Holdings, Airtel Africa, B&M European Value Retail, AstraZeneca, Ashtead Group, Coca-Cola HBC, Severn Trent, Dechra Pharmaceuticals and Centrica gained 1 to 2%.

Next, the clothing and homeware chain, moved higher after maintaining its profit guidance for the year.

In Paris, Valeo, Faurecia and Air France-KLM lost 4 to 5.2%. Atos, Cap Gemini and L'Oreal ended lower by 3 to 3.7%. Sodexo, LVMH, Safran, Essilor, Publicis Groupe and Accor also ended notably lower.

Michelin and Dassault Systemes gained about 1.5%. Carrefour, Teleperformance, Thales and Orange posted modest gains.

In the German market, Zalando plunged more than 6%. Vonovia ended nearly 6% down and Deutsche Wohnen drifted down 4.5%.

Continental, HeidelbergCement, Siemens Healthineers, Adidas, HelloFresh, Daimler, Siemens and Deutsche Post also ended notably lower.

Merck and Fresenius Medical Care both gained nearly 2%. Puma, Deutsche Telekom and Deutsche Bank also closed higher.

Danish drug maker Novo Nordisk rallied sharply after raising its full-year earnings outlook. Maersk, the world's largest container shipping firm, plunged nearly 6% after it warned of a slowdown in container demand.

On the economic front, the euro area manufacturing activity contracted for the fourth consecutive month in October signaling a recession, final survey results from S&P Global showed.

The manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index declined to 46.4 in October from 48.4 in the previous month. The score was below the preliminary estimate of 46.6.

The downturn in Germany's manufacturing sector gathered pace in October. The S&P Global / BME factory PMI came in at 45.1 versus 47.8 in the previous month but above the flash 45.7.

The French manufacturing sector contracted the most in almost two-and-a-half years in October as new orders slumped at the fastest pace since May 2020. The final factory PMI weakened to 47.2 from 47.7 in the previous month. The flash reading was 47.4.

Data from Destatis showed Germany's exports dropped unexpectedly and imports logged its first time fall in eight months in September.

Exports dropped 0.5% month-on-month in September, after a 2.9% rise in August. Shipments were expected to gain 0.1%. Meanwhile, imports registered a decline of 2.3%, in contrast to the 4.9% rise in August. Imports were forecast to ease 0.4%.

German unemployment increased less-than-expected in October, climbing by 8,000 in the month, following a revised increase of 13,000 in the previous month, data published by the Federal Labor Agency revealed. Unemployment was forecast to rise by 15,000.

The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 5.5% in October, in line with expectations.