Stock Market News (European Open) – European equities in the red as uncertainty remains in Spain; Asia mixed
October 19, 2017 10:28 am
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 and the country’s broader gauge of equity performance, the Topix, gained 0.4% and 0.3% respectively, extending their streak of positive closes and yet again renewing multi-year highs. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and the Shanghai Composite declined by 1.9% and 0.35% respectively. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added 0.1%.
Chinese GDP growth figures were among the day’s highlights in terms of data releases out of the world’s second largest economy. Economic growth came in in line with expectations at a rate of 6.8% y/y. This was slightly below the second quarter’s (as well as the first’s) respective number of 6.9%. The figure is overall considered strong, though following PBOC Governor Zhou Xiaochuan’s comments over the weekend that growth may hit 7% in the second half of this year, it might have disappointed some market participants who expected even stronger growth. This, in conjunction with falling property sales, contributed to the fall in Chinese equities during today’s trading. Remaining in the background is the Chinese Communist Party Congress which commenced yesterday.
At 1239 GMT, European equities were broadly heading lower with all major blue-chip benchmarks in the continent being in the red. The UK’s FTSE 100, the German DAX and the French CAC 40 were down by 0.3%, 0.5% and 0.3% respectively. The Spanish IBEX 35, which has been underperforming in recent weeks over the situation in Catalonia, was 0.8% lower. The Spanish blue-chip and its Italian counterpart, the FTSE MIB (0.9% lower) were performing the worst among major blue-chip indexes in the continent.
The pan-European Stoxx 600, which more widely gauges European equity performance, was down by 0.6% and the blue-chip Euro Stoxx 50 lower by a similar proportion.
The deadline for the Catalan President Carles Puigdemont to revoke his “symbolic” (at least this is how some analysts described it) independence declaration has passed and he has not done so. The situation now is perplexed. Madrid has warned it would invoke Article 155 to restrict Catalonia’s autonomy should the deadline not be met, but Puigdemont effectively said that such an action could result in a vote by the Catalan parliament for a formal declaration of independence from Spain. A source talking to Reuters said that the Spanish government would push forward Article 155 on Saturday.
Consumer goods company Unilever (down 4.35%) and advertising group Publicis (down 6.0%) were on a negative footing after investors were disappointed by their quarterly results. The two topped the list of decliners within the FTSE 100 and CAC 40 respectively while they also made the list of ten worst underperformers within the overall Stoxx 600. IWG plc, a UK-based mid-cap stock in the industry of facility management and business support services, was suffering after issuing a full-year profit warning. It was last down by a massive 33.9%, rendering itself by far the worst performing stock within the Stoxx 600.
Automaker BMW was underperforming relative to other DAX constituents after investment bank Morgan Stanley cut the company’s rating to “underweight” from “equal-weight”. It was last down by 1.0%.
Futures contracts were last projecting a lower open on Wall Street. Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 contracts were trading lower by 0.3%, 0.3% and 0.5% respectively. The former two yesterday recorded another all-time high close. Today is the 30-year anniversary of the stock market crash of October 19, 1987, what is known as “Black Monday”.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 and the country’s broader gauge of equity performance, the Topix, gained 0.4% and 0.3% respectively, extending their streak of positive closes and yet again renewing multi-year highs. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and the Shanghai Composite declined by 1.9% and 0.35% respectively. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added 0.1%.
Chinese GDP growth figures were among the day’s highlights in terms of data releases out of the world’s second largest economy. Economic growth came in in line with expectations at a rate of 6.8% y/y. This was slightly below the second quarter’s (as well as the first’s) respective number of 6.9%. The figure is overall considered strong, though following PBOC Governor Zhou Xiaochuan’s comments over the weekend that growth may hit 7% in the second half of this year, it might have disappointed some market participants who expected even stronger growth. This, in conjunction with falling property sales, contributed to the fall in Chinese equities during today’s trading. Remaining in the background is the Chinese Communist Party Congress which commenced yesterday.
At 1239 GMT, European equities were broadly heading lower with all major blue-chip benchmarks in the continent being in the red. The UK’s FTSE 100, the German DAX and the French CAC 40 were down by 0.3%, 0.5% and 0.3% respectively. The Spanish IBEX 35, which has been underperforming in recent weeks over the situation in Catalonia, was 0.8% lower. The Spanish blue-chip and its Italian counterpart, the FTSE MIB (0.9% lower) were performing the worst among major blue-chip indexes in the continent.
The pan-European Stoxx 600, which more widely gauges European equity performance, was down by 0.6% and the blue-chip Euro Stoxx 50 lower by a similar proportion.
The deadline for the Catalan President Carles Puigdemont to revoke his “symbolic” (at least this is how some analysts described it) independence declaration has passed and he has not done so. The situation now is perplexed. Madrid has warned it would invoke Article 155 to restrict Catalonia’s autonomy should the deadline not be met, but Puigdemont effectively said that such an action could result in a vote by the Catalan parliament for a formal declaration of independence from Spain. A source talking to Reuters said that the Spanish government would push forward Article 155 on Saturday.
Consumer goods company Unilever (down 4.35%) and advertising group Publicis (down 6.0%) were on a negative footing after investors were disappointed by their quarterly results. The two topped the list of decliners within the FTSE 100 and CAC 40 respectively while they also made the list of ten worst underperformers within the overall Stoxx 600. IWG plc, a UK-based mid-cap stock in the industry of facility management and business support services, was suffering after issuing a full-year profit warning. It was last down by a massive 33.9%, rendering itself by far the worst performing stock within the Stoxx 600.
Automaker BMW was underperforming relative to other DAX constituents after investment bank Morgan Stanley cut the company’s rating to “underweight” from “equal-weight”. It was last down by 1.0%.
Futures contracts were last projecting a lower open on Wall Street. Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 contracts were trading lower by 0.3%, 0.3% and 0.5% respectively. The former two yesterday recorded another all-time high close. Today is the 30-year anniversary of the stock market crash of October 19, 1987, what is known as “Black Monday”.
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