Q-Cells, Anheuser-Busch Inbev advance after updating investors
By Sarah Turner, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- European shares wavered between gains and losses on Thursday, with investors cautious one day after heavy selling on concerns about economic growth.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index (ST:SXXP 255.37, +0.69, +0.27%) traded up 0.2% at 255.24.
"Economic indicators are sending conflicting messages at the moment, suggesting uncertain times ahead. This leaves fund managers divided between those who are concerned about the prospect of a double-dip recession and those who are more optimistic about the strength of the recovery," said Gartmore Asset Management.
The index ended with a 2% loss on Wednesday, its biggest one-day decline in almost six weeks, which wiped out progress made in August.
Stocks tumbled as investors fretted about the pace and sustainability of the global economic recovery.
On Thursday, euro-zone industrial-production data showed a 0.1% decline in June, missing economist forecasts for a 0.5% month rise.
The banking sector was once again under selling pressure on Thursday, with Barclays (UK:BARC 306.50, -7.10, -2.26%) (BCS 19.50, -1.73, -8.13%) shares down 2.1%.
Other firms closely tied to economic growth trends were also in the red, with Daimler (DE:DAI 39.23, -1.05, -2.60%) shares down 2.1% and BMW (DE:BMW 41.76, -0.74, -1.73%) shares down 1.2% in the auto sector.
Of the major regional benchmarks, the German DAX index (DX:DAX 6,144, -9.61, -0.16%) declined 0.3% to 6,134.64, the French CAC-40 index (FR:PX1 3,627, -1.03, -0.03%) lost 0.4% to 3,613.94 and the U.K. FTSE 100 index (UK:UKX 5,255, +10.17, +0.19%) declined 0.1% to 5,237.91.
Asian shares ended lower. U.S. stock futures also pulled back from early gains, with Dow Jones Industrial Average futures down 16 points.
Reporting earnings, RWE (DE:RWE 53.67, -0.58, -1.07%) shares were down 0.7% after the German utility reported an 8% drop in first-half profit to 2.04 billion euros ($2.63 billion) and announced it will reassess its medium-term goals. Read more on RWE.
Aker Solutions (NO:AKSO 76.00, -6.10, -7.43%) shares were down 7.3% after the engineering firm reported its second-quarter profit dropped to 445 million Norwegian kroner ($72.1 million), a larger-than-expected decline.
There were some earnings-related gainers in Europe, with German solar firm Q-Cells (DE:QCE 5.60, +0.29, +5.49%) up 7.5% after it swung to a quarterly net attributable profit of €35.2 million. It also lifted its fiscal-year sales guidance.
Shares of the world's largest brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev (BE:ABI 41.00, +1.90, +4.86%) rose 3.8% after it posted a 7.3% rise in second-quarter net profit to $1.15 billion. The firm said good weather and the World Cup helped drive a stronger-than-expected 2.1% increase in volumes during the quarter. Read more on AB InBev earnings.
Telecoms were also firm, with Vodafone Group (UK:VOD 153.90, +3.15, +2.09%) shares up 1.7% and Portugal Telecom (PT:PTC 8.66, +0.14, +1.67%) up 1.2%, helping the Portuguese PSI 20 index to gain 0.2%.
