EUROPE MARKETS: European Stocks End Day With Losses, Driven Lower By Daimler And Reckitt Benckiser
February 19 2018 - 12:44PM
Dow Jones News
By Carla Mozee and Victor Reklaitis, MarketWatch
Reckitt Benckiser's results disappoint; Daimler down on
emissions report
European stocks closed lower Monday, dragged down in part by
falls for consumer products heavyweight Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC
and German automobile maker Daimler AG.
Traders confronted a scarcity of catalysts in what was a
relatively quiet day, with equity markets in the U.S. and China
closed for holidays.
How markets are moving
The Stoxx Europe 600 indexshed 0.6% to finish at 378.24.
The regional benchmark last week leapt 3.3%
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/european-stocks-set-for-best-week-since-2016-alongside-wall-streets-recovery-2018-02-16),
recovering from its recent selloff and notching its best week since
December 2016.
On Monday, Germany's DAX 30 indexfell 0.5% to end at 12,385.60,
and France's CAC 40lost 0.5% to close at 5,256.18.
The U.K.'s FTSE 100was down 0.6% to reach 7,247.66.
Check out: More investors looking to cut U.K. assets as Brexit
uncertainty persists
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/more-investors-looking-to-cut-uk-assets-as-brexit-uncertainty-persists-2018-02-16)
The eurobought $1.2398, little changed from $1.2409 late Friday
in New York.
In the fixed-income market, the yield on the 10-year German
bundrecently was up 3 basis points at 0.737%, according to
Tradeweb. Yields rise when prices fall.
What's driving markets
European stocks were giving back some of Friday's advance, which
keyed off moves on Wall Street, although the Dowand S&P
500eventually closed off session highs and the Nasdaqturned lower
in the week's final session.
Analysts said volumes for European markets would be lower than
usual on Monday, with U.S. markets closed for the Presidents Day
holiday. In Frankfurt, DAX volume was running at about 53 million
shares in afternoon trade, according to FactSet data, and average
daily volume has been 122.33 million shares over the past 30
days.
Read:Which markets are closed on Presidents Day?
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/which-markets-are-closed-on-presidents-day-2018-02-14)
Global equities last week rebounded from a meltdown earlier this
month that yanked the S&P 500 and other major benchmarks from
record highs.
What strategists are saying
"A lack of a major macroeconomic news has left some traders
uninspired," said David Madden, market analyst at CMC Markets, in a
note. "Chinese markets were closed overnight as the country
celebrated Spring Festival, and the U.S. and Canadian stock markets
will be closed today as they celebrate Presidents Day and Family
Day, respectively. When a number of major players on the markets
are closed due to holidays, it is common to see low volatility on
those exchanges that are open."
Stock movers
Reckitt Benckiser Group(RB.LN)sank 7.5% as the maker of Lysol,
Clearasil and other consumer products posted flat like-for-like
2017 sales
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/reckitt-benckiser-2017-profit-rises-on-weak-pound-2018-02-19),
although that was line with guidance that had been revised downward
over the course of the year.
Daimler shares(DAI.XE)fell 2.1% after German newspaper Bild
reported Sunday that the car maker may have used software to help
some of its vehicles pass U.S. diesel-emissions tests
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/daimler-may-have-cheated-on-emissions-bild-2018-02-19).
Bild cited internal documents from U.S. investigators.
Monday's gainers included Deutsche Bank AG(DBK.XE) , which was
up 2.1%.
The German bank reportedly has begun eliminating
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/deutsche-bank-to-cut-250-banker-jobs-bloomberg-2018-02-19)
at least 250 jobs across its corporate and investment-banking units
worldwide as it tries to keep expenses down while its securities
division continues to struggle.
ECB watch
Spain's economy minister, Luis de Guindos, looked on track to
succeed European Central Bank Vice President Vitor Constâncio.
On Tuesday, the nomination of an Irish official for the ECB's
No. 2 job was withdrawn
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/spanish-official-looks-set-to-become-ecbs-deputy-after-irish-withdrawal-2018-02-19),
and the Eurogroup gave its support to Guindos
(http://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2018/02/19/ecb-vice-presidency-eurogroup-gives-support-to-luis-de-guindos/).
On Thursday, minutes from the ECB's January meeting are set for
publication. That account is "something which will give us an idea
if the ECB is going to end their tapering program as per the plan,"
said Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at Think Markets.
"It won't be long before the market participant would expect the
ECB to start talking about the increase in the interest rate,"
Aslam said in a note. "Such an event would be highly bullish for
the euro traders."
In other ECB news, a member of the central bank's rate-setting
committee, Ilmars Rimvis, was detained over the weekend
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/top-ecb-official-detained-by-latvias-anticorruption-agency-2018-02-19)
by Latvia's anticorruption agency as part of a criminal probe.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 19, 2018 12:29 ET (17:29 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.