European stocks fell Thursday, as bank shares were dragged down and as investors grappled with a stream of corporate earnings reports from key companies such as Royal Dutch Shell PLC and Adidas AG.
The Stoxx Europe 600 SXXP, -0.95% fell 1% to close at 339.47, marking the first loss in four sessions. The pan-European index on Wednesday finished up by 0.4%, led by a surge in French equities.
The topic of Brexit, or the U.K.'s pending exit from the European Union, has been a major theme in European earnings reports in the wake of the U.K.'s June 23 referendum. The impact of currency headwinds and low oil prices have also been areas of concerns for companies.
U.S. stocks closed little changed Thursday following a mixed bag of earnings reports and a slight reprieve from a close correlation with declining oil prices. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.09% declined 15.82 points, or 0.1%, to close at 18.456.35, weighed down by shares of Boeing Co. BA, -2.17% which closed down 2.2%. The S&P 500 Index SPX, +0.16% advanced 3.48 points, or 0.2%, to close at 2,170.06, led by gains in the consumer-staples and utilities sectors. The Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, +0.30% rose 15.17 points, or 0.3%, to finish at 5,154.98 its highest close since Dec. 1, 2015. Oil futures for September delivery CLU6, -0.34% dropped 1.9% to settle at $41.14 a barrel.
Asian shares slipped after touching a near one-year peak on Friday, while Japanese stocks tumbled and the yen strengthened as the Bank of Japan's fresh stimulus measures disappointed markets.
The BOJ modestly increased purchases of exchange-traded funds, but maintained its base money target at 80 trillion yen ($775 billion) and the pace of purchases of other assets, including Japanese government bonds.
The central bank also held at 0.1 percent the interest it charges to a portion of excess reserves financial institutions leave with the central bank.
Japan's Nikkei .N225, which swung between gains and losses right after the announcement, was last trading down 1.5 percent. The index, which touched a seven-week high last week, was on track for a 2.4 percent weekly drop, shrinking gains for July to 4.2 percent.
© 2000-2024. All rights reserved.
This site is managed by Teletrade D.J. LLC 2351 LLC 2022 (Euro House, Richmond Hill Road, Kingstown, VC0100, St. Vincent and the Grenadines).
The information on this website is for informational purposes only and does not constitute any investment advice.
The company does not serve or provide services to customers who are residents of the US, Canada, Iran, The Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Yemen and FATF blacklisted countries.
Making transactions on financial markets with marginal financial instruments opens up wide possibilities and allows investors who are willing to take risks to earn high profits, carrying a potentially high risk of losses at the same time. Therefore you should responsibly approach the issue of choosing the appropriate investment strategy, taking the available resources into account, before starting trading.
Use of the information: full or partial use of materials from this website must always be referenced to TeleTrade as the source of information. Use of the materials on the Internet must be accompanied by a hyperlink to teletrade.org. Automatic import of materials and information from this website is prohibited.
Please contact our PR department if you have any questions or need assistance at pr@teletrade.global.