Europe’s Stoxx 600 index closed in the green for the second session on Tuesday, continuing what has been a broadly positive run so far in February.
Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 were 0.56% and 0.28% higher respectively, lagged by the U.K.’s FTSE 100, up 0.11%.
Stoxx 600 index.
Herman Wang, managing editor, oil news at S&P Global Commodity Insights, discusses BP earnings, after the oil giant vowed a strategy reset and posted a sharp drop in fourth-quarter profit.
The European Union plans to retaliate against the United States for new steel and aluminum tariffs, adding another element to rising global trade tensions.
“Unjustified tariffs on the EU will not go unanswered — they will trigger firm and proportionate countermeasures,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement late Monday.
The statement comes after U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order to impose 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum. Shares of American steelmakers rallied sharply on Monday following the order.
— Jesse Pound
Andrea Orcel, CEO of UniCredit, discusses the firm’s fourth-quarter results, the bank’s investment in Commerzbank, and interest rates.
Shares of gambling giant Entain dropped 11% after the company said its chief executive Gavin Isaacs has resigned.
The global gaming company said its non-executive chair Stella David would lead the firm on an interim basis until a permanent replacement has been found.
Entain shares have fallen by about 50% since its 2021 high.
British oil major BP on Tuesday posted a sharp drop in fourth-quarter profit on weaker refining margins, announcing a $1.75 billion share buyback and a pledge to “fundamentally” reset its strategy.
The energy firm posted underlying replacement cost profit (RC profit) — used as a proxy for net profit — at $1.169 billion in the fourth quarter, compared with $2.99 billion in the same period of last year and with an analyst forecast of $1.2 billion, according to a LSEG poll.
The company attributed its quarterly 48% drop in RC profit to “weaker realized refining margins, higher impact from turnaround activity, seasonally lower customer volumes and fuels margins and higher other businesses & corporate underlying charge.”
Shares of BP were 0.2% higher at 10:37 a.m. London time.
— Ruxandra Iordache
A Gucci store, operated by Kering SA, in the Sanlitun area of Beijing, China, on Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images
French luxury goods firm Kering on Tuesday reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter sales that were nevertheless down year-on-year amid lagging demand for its main Gucci label.
The high-end fashion group, whose brands also include Bottega Veneta, Balenciaga and Alexander McQueen, posted a 12% decline in fourth-quarter revenues to 4.39 billion euros ($4.52 billion), just slightly ahead of the 4.29 billion euros forecast by LSEG analysts.
Full-year sales dipped 12% to 17.19 billion euros versus an anticipated 17.09 billion euros.
Kering shares popped 6% in opening trade Tuesday, before paring gains to trade up 0.5% by 10:15 a.m. London time.
— Karen Gilchrist
European markets opened in positive territory on Tuesday, shrugging off the latest raft of tariffs introduced by U.S. President Donald Trump.
While the pan-European Stoxx 600 index and Germany’s Dax were mostly flat, the U.K.’s FTSE 100 was up by 0.22%. France’s CAC also opened higher by 0.35%.
— Ganesh Rao
UniCredit said it aims to increase net profit to around 10 billion euros by 2027, with the “ambition” to distribute more to shareholders than it did 2024.
Italy’s second-largest lender posted fourth-quarter net profit that beat expectations amid market focus on the bank’s M&A overtures.
Net profit attributable to the group came in at 1.969 billion euros ($2.03 billion) in the fourth quarter, compared with an analyst forecast of 1.803 billion euros, according to a LSEG-compiled consensus.
The company also said it aims to raise its returns on tangible equity above 17% over the next three financial years from the current 16.6%, making it one of the most efficiently run large banks in Europe.
— Ganesh Rao
Novartis is set to buy Boston-based Anthos Therapeutics for $925 million in a bid to strengthen its late-stage cardiovascular treatment pipeline.
The Swiss pharmaceutical giant said that further payments of up to $2.15 billion could be made if “specified regulatory and sales milestones” were met by Anthos.
Founded in 2019, Anthos Therapeutics has developed abelacimab, a medicine for the prevention of stroke and systemic embolism in some patients, from the clinical stage through the ongoing phase-3 clinical trial.
Novartis expects the transaction to close in the first half of this year.
— Ganesh Rao
European markets are expected to open in higher territory Thursday.
The U.K.’s FTSE 100 index is expected to open 9 points higher at 8,817, Germany’s DAX up 229 points at 22,370, France’s CAC up 80 points at 8,127 and Italy’s FTSE MIB 308 points higher at 37,961, according to data from IG.
Traders will be keeping an eye on earnings from Siemens, Nestle, Swisscom, Pernod Ricard, Orange, Unilever, Legrand, Ferrovial, Barclays, British American Tobacco, Commerzbank, Thyssenkrupp and Moncler.
Data releases will include Germany’s latest inflation rate and U.K. fourth-quarter gross domestic product, with economists expecting the British economy to have contracted 0.1% in the three months to December.
— Holly Ellyatt
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Russian leader Vladimir Putin would accept European peacekeepers in Ukraine as part of a
Friedrich Merz marked his conservative alliance’s victory in Germany’s election by urging Europe to make itself more independent from the US – a project t
1 of 2 | Ukraine Presidential Office chief Andriy Yermak (center-L) puts his arm around Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as he arrives at
Many world leaders have congratulated Friedrich Merz, leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), for winning the German elections. However, as the reaction