European Stocks Close Lower After Cautious Session

(RTTNews) - European stocks closed lower on Tuesday, as investors digested the latest batch of earnings and economic updates, and looked ahead to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement due on Wednesday.

The Fed is widely expected to leave interest rate unchanged tomorrow. The focus will be on the accompanying statement and Fed Chair Jerome Powell's press conference. Investors now expect the Fed to announce a rate cut in September.

The pan European Stoxx 600 dropped 0.68%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 edged down 0.04%, Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 ended down 1.03% and 0.99%, respectively. Switzerland's SMI drifted down 0.63%.

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

Denmark, Iceland and Norway ended higher.

In the UK market, Fresnillo and Prudential shed about 5.5%. Prudential drifted down after the insurer's annual premium equivalent sales for CITIC Prudential Life, its Chinese Mainland JV, fell 17 percent in Q1.

Anglo American Plc ended 4.2% down. Entain, Vodafone Group, Antofagasta, Centrica, Taylor Wimpey, Ashtead Group and St. James's Place lost 2 to 4%.

HSBC Holdings rallied more than 4% after the bank said it would shortly begin buying back an additional $3 billion of its shares.

Hargreaves Lansdown gained 3.6%. The financial services business revealed its AuM levels increased by £7.5billion to a record £149.7billion between January and the end of March.

Whitbread gained nearly 4% after it announced plans to axe around 1,500 U.K. jobs. ICG, Haleon and Tesco gained 3.35%, 2.5% and 1.5%, respectively.

In the German market, Mercedes-Benz shed more than 5% as the luxury carmaker reported a 30 percent annual fall in first-quarter earnings before interest and tax.

Volkswagen ended down 4.7%. The automaker said its operating profit dropped by 20% in the first quarter of 2024 compared to the corresponding period last year.

Porsche and BMW lost 4 to 4.7%. Daimler Truck Holding ended down by nearly 4%.

Zalando, Sartorius, Adidas, HeidelbergCement, Puma, Deutsche Telekom, Rheinmetall, Siemens Healthineers, Covestro, RWE and SAP lost 1 to 3.4%.

Vonovia gained about 4%. The German real estate group confirmed its full-year outlook despite a drop in earnings.

Fresenius Medical Care climbed 2.5%. Commerzbank, Henkel, Fresenius and Deutsche Post also ended notably higher.

In the French market, Renault, Bouygues, AXA and Teleperformance lost 4.4 to 5.5%. Capgemini, WorldLine, Alstom, Hermes International, ArcelorMittal, Eurofins Scientific, Edenred, Kering, STMicroElectronics and Dassault Systemes ended down 1.3 to 4%.

Stellantis shed more than 3% after the Franco-Italian carmaker reported a 12 percent decline in revenue in the first quarter.

Sanofi climbed about 1.4%. L'Oreal and Veolia posted modest gains.

In economic news, preliminary flash estimate from Eurostat showed that the euro area economy expanded in the first quarter after two consecutive declines, with gross domestic product growing by more-than-expected 0.3% on quarter following a 0.1% fall each in the fourth and third quarters of 2023.

The German economy also avoided recession in the first quarter, with GDP growing more-than-expected 0.2% sequentially in the first quarter, in contrast to the revised 0.5% decrease in the preceding period.

Meanwhile, headline inflation in the euro area came in at 2.4% in April, matching forecasts. On a monthly basis, inflation was 0.6%.