European shares under pressure on China worries, downbeat earnings

By Shashwat Chauhan

(Reuters) – European shares slipped on Tuesday, with China-exposed heavyweight stocks amongst top decliners on worries that Donald Trump would likely bring in a China hawk as the top U.S. diplomat, while some downbeat earnings compounded losses.

The pan-European STOXX 600 shed 0.8%, with most sub-sectors falling. The benchmark had risen more than 1% in the last session.

European equities have been under stress as investors assessed the likelihood of tariff increases after Trump’s sweeping victory last week.

There’s an underlying sense of nervousness from investors about what the coming four-years holds for European companies,” said Dan Boardman-Weston, CEO and CIO at BRI Wealth Management.

China-related assets struggled globally as U.S. president-elect Trump is expected to tap U.S. Senator Marco Rubio to be his secretary of state.

Rubio was arguably the most hawkish option on Trump’s shortlist for secretary of state, and he has in past years advocated for a muscular foreign policy with respect to America’s geopolitical foes, including China.

Basic resources dipped 1.9% as most metal prices fell, while personal and household goods, which houses heavyweight China-exposed luxury firms, dropped 1.6%.

Among earnings-driven losses, Brenntag eased 9.4% to a near 23-month low after the German chemicals distributor reported a 4.9% drop in its quarterly core profit, missing market expectations.

German drugs-to-pesticides group Bayer dropped 11.2%, touching its lowest level since 2005 after it lowered the full-year operating earnings forecast.

On the bright side, drugmaker AstraZeneca lifted its annual sales and profit forecasts for the second time this year. Its shares were last up 0.5% after rising as much as 3% intraday.

UK’s Convatec Group jumped 19.4% after the medical products and technologies firm raised its FY24 organic sales growth forecast.

British power generator Drax added 5.9% after saying it expects 2024 full-year core earnings to be around the top end of analysts’ consensus of between 993 million pounds and 1.04 billion pounds ($1.27 billion-$1.33 billion).

Meanwhile, German inflation rose to 2.4% in October, confirming a preliminary reading, while British wage growth, excluding bonuses, fell in the third quarter to its lowest level in over two years.

A U.S. inflation reading and minutes from the European Central Bank’s last policy meeting are due later in the week.

(Reporting by Shashwat Chauhan in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala and Shinjini Ganguli)