European Stocks Close Slightly Lower

(RTTNews) - European stocks closed slightly weak on Tuesday with investors assessing the likely move by global central banks with regard to interest rates, and largely refraining from making significant moves ahead of the release of the minutes of the Federal Reserve's most recent policy meeting.

Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said that financial markets are putting too much weight on the current data releases and underestimates the persistence of inflation.

At the Treasury Select Committee hearing on Tuesday, Bailey said the decline in inflation was good news. Inflation will end the year a bit lower than the central bank estimated, he said.

However, Bailey said the central bank is concerned about the potential persistence of inflation in the course of its journey down to the 2% target.

Regarding suggestions on raising the inflation target to 3%, Bailey said it is a very bad argument. He asserted that the target should remain at 2%.

The pan European Stoxx 600 edged down 0.09%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 shed 0.19%, France's CAC 40 lost 0.24% and Germany's DAX settled 0.01% down, while Switzerland's SMI climbed 0.39%.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden closed weak.

Iceland, Russia and Turkiye ended higher.

In the UK market, IAG ended 4.55% down. Easyjet, Just Eat Takeaway.com, Johnson Matthey, Carnival and Entain lost 3 to 3.6%.

Land Securities, Flutter Entertainment, ITV, Segro, Glencore, Centrica, Ds Smith, Rentokil Initial, Prudential, British Land Company and Hargreaves Lansdown ended lower by 1.6 to 2.5%.

JD Sports Fashion rallied about 4.3%. CRH climbed nearly 2.5% after the company agreed to acquire a cement plant and 20 ready mixed concrete plants in Texas from Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. for $2.1 billion.

Admiral Group, National Grid, Barratt Developments, Taylor Wimpey, Imperial Brands, Reckitt Benckiser and Antofagasta gained 1 to 2.5%.

In the German market, Siemens Energy plunged more than 7%. Vonovia drifted down 3.4%. BMW, Volkswagen, Zalando, Infineon, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche and Continental lost 1 to 2%.

Adidas, Hannover Rueck, Symrise, Qiagen, Munich RE, Beiersdorf, Merck, Sartorius, HeidelbergCement, MTU Aero Engines and Deutsche Boerse gained 1 to 2.2%.

Shares of defense contractor Rheinmetall rallied 3.7% after the company released its 2026 strategy.

In Paris, Renault ended 3.6% down. Unibail Rodamco declined about 3%. Stellantis, STMicroElectronics, LVMH, Teleperformance, WorldLine, Kering and Michelin lost 1 to 2%.

Thales, Danone, Alstom, L'Oreal, Air Liquide, Airbus Group, Eurofins Scientific and Legrand gained 0.4 to 1.4%.

In the Swiss market, shares of hearing aid maker Sonova climbed 5.4% despite the company lowering its annual core profit forecast.

Data from the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association, or ACEA, showed new car sales in the EU rose for a fifteenth consecutive month in October on the back of strong demand in France, Italy, and Spain.

New car registrations grew 14.6% year-over-year to 855,484 units in October. This was well above the 9.2% growth in September.

Among the four major markets, France, Italy, and Spain posted double-digit growth in October. The French market showed the most impressive growth of 21.9 percent, followed by Italy with a 20.0 percent rise.

The UK government borrowing exceeded expectations and also hit the second highest level on record for the month of October, but the borrowing so far this financial year was less than the official projection, giving room for maneuver in the autumn statement. Public sector net borrowing excluding banks increased by GBP 4.4 billion to GBP 14.9 billion in October.

Labor productivity in the UK declined in the third quarter but remained above the pre-pandemic levels, the Office for National Statistics said Tuesday.

Output per hour worked decreased 0.3% from a year ago, offsetting the 0.3% rise in the second quarter. Nonetheless, this was 2.5% above the pre-coronavirus period.

Quarter-on-quarter, output per hour was down 0.2%, reversing prior quarter's 0.7% increase.

Switzerland's trade surplus decreased in October as exports fell faster than imports, data from the Federal Customs Administration showed on Tuesday.

The trade surplus dropped to CHF 3.4 billion in October from CHF 5.0 billion in September.

In real terms, exports fell 7.2% monthly in October, reversing a 3.8% rise in the previous month. The decline in imports deepened to 3.1% from 0.7%. In nominal terms, both exports and imports slid by 10.7% and 4.9%, respectively.