European shares pull back after rally, earnings disappoint

By Nikhil Sharma and Purvi Agarwal

(Reuters) - European shares eased on Wednesday after a four-day rally fuelled by the U.S.-UK and U.S.-China trade deals that relieved some concerns over the global trade war, while downbeat corporate earnings also weighed.

The continent-wide STOXX 600 index closed 0.2% lower, its first loss in five sessions.

The rise had started on Thursday after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a trade deal with Britain, and continued after Beijing and Washington agreed to a 90-day pause on most of the tariffs imposed on each other in April.

"This is standard profit-taking. European investors are approaching some of the global tariff news with a bit more healthy scepticism compared to U.S. investors, and the market is taking a bit of a pause," said Steve Sosnick, chief market analyst at Interactive Brokers.

The benchmark STOXX 600 is still well above its early April low, when Trump unleashed universal levies on trading partners, leading to a global equity sell-off.

Goldman Sachs raised its 12-month forecast for the STOXX 600 to 570 points, from 520, following the U.S.-China trade deal.

Healthcare shares were the biggest drag on the market on Wednesday, down 1.5%. Alcon logged its biggest one-day fall since March 2020 after missing expectations for quarterly results and revising its 2025 outlook to reflect the impact of U.S. tariffs.

Most sectors ended the day lower, although European banks rose 1.4% to trade at the highest since August 2010.

Earnings remained front and centre, with investors hawk-eyed for clues on how companies are planning to navigate the uncertain economic environment.

Train-maker Alstom slumped to the bottom of the STOXX 600 with an decline of more than 17% after its forecast for the current year disappointed investors, weighing on industrials.

TUI, Europe's largest travel operator, was down about 11% after flagging a 1% drop in summer bookings, while Imperial Brands dropped 7.3% after the cigarette maker said CEO Stefan Bomhard will retire.

Burberry jumped 17%, the biggest gainer on the STOXX 600, after the luxury brand topped expectations for full-year profit and said it would cut 1,700 jobs.

FLSmidth rose 11.6% after it surpassed first-quarter profit estimates and said it was negotiating with Pacific Avenue Capital Partners to divest its cement business.

A slew of economic data including gross domestic product and employment numbers for the euro zone is due through the remainder of the week.

(Reporting by Nikhil Sharma and Purvi Agarwal; Editing by Janane Venkatraman and Savio D'Souza, Kirsten Donovan)