European shares dip after flood of earnings

(Reuters) – European shares inched lower on Tuesday as investors sifted through a mixed bag of corporate earnings and eyed latest developments on U.S.-China trade talks and Britain’s progress towards some form of orderly departure from the European Union.

Germany’s DAX () and Switzerland’s SSMI () both bucked the trend, with the latter helped by a 1% gain for drugmaker Novartis (S:) after it raised its 2019 targets and reported better-than-expected revenue.

Another Swiss company, Apple (NASDAQ:) supplier AMS (S:) also climbed 6% as demand from smartphone makers boosted operating profit.

French specialty minerals company Imerys (PA:) slipped 6% after cutting its outlook for 2019, while Norway’s Aker BP (OL:) moved marginally lower as it slashed its full-year oil output target.

British household goods maker Reckitt Benckiser (L:) was moored to the bottom of the pan-European STOXX index with a 5% fall after it cut its full-year sales forecast for the second time this year.

The STOXX () was down just over 0.1% by 0728 GMT.

Shares of UBS (S:) led gains among banking stocks () after Switzerland’s biggest bank reported a smaller than expected loss in quarterly profit.

Swedish defense firm Saab (ST:) rose 7% to top the STOXX 600 after reporting third-quarter operating earnings well ahead of market forecasts and affirming its view that operating cashflow this year would improve versus 2018.

Disclaimer: Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. All CFDs (stocks, indexes, futures) and Forex prices are not provided by exchanges but rather by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual market price, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Therefore Fusion Media doesn`t bear any responsibility for any trading losses you might incur as a result of using this data.

Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.