BLBG:Europe Stocks Little Changed as Euro-Area Exits Recession
European stocks were little changed as data showed the euro area’s economy emerged from a record-long recession in the second quarter, led by Germany and France. U.S. futures fell, while Asian shares gained.
RWE AG lost 5.1 percent after second-quarter profit missed analysts’ estimates. Celesio AG slid 2 percent after cutting its full-year forecast. Subsea 7 SA surged the most in two years after reporting a smaller second-quarter loss than forecast.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index fell less than 0.1 percent to 307.7 at 10:07 a.m. in London. The gauge increased 0.6 percent yesterday as companies posted better-than-estimated earnings and German investor confidence increased. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures slipped 0.2 percent today, while the MSCI Asia Pacific Index gained 0.5 percent.
“Market expectations readjusted already when the July PMIs came out strongly, so for today’s session, it’s more about selling the fact,” Witold Bahrke, a Copenhagen-based senior strategist at PFA Pension A/S, which manages about $55 billion, wrote in an e-mail. “Europe is showing signs of life and is exiting recession earlier than many expected. More forward looking indicators are pointing at further reacceleration in the coming quarters, which is very good news.”
Gross domestic product in the 17-nation euro area expanded 0.3 percent in the April-June period after a 0.3 percent contraction in the previous three months, the European Union’s statistics office in Luxembourg said today. That exceeded the median estimate of 0.2 percent growth in a Bloomberg News survey of 41 economists. From a year earlier, the economy shrank 0.7 percent in the second quarter.
Germany, France
The German economy expanded more in the second quarter than economists predicted. Gross domestic product rose 0.7 percent from the first quarter, when it stagnated, the Federal Statistics Office in Wiesbaden said today. Economists forecast a gain of 0.6 percent, according to the median of 47 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey.
French gross domestic product grew a more-than-anticipated 0.5 percent in the three months through June, after shrinking in the two previous quarters, national statistics office Insee said in a statement today in Paris. That beat the median estimate of 0.2 percent expansion.
To contact the reporter on this story: Tom Stoukas in Athens at astoukas@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew Rummer at arummer@bloomberg.net
