By Josie Cox
European stocks extended losses Wednesday, pressured by a fresh
bout of downbeat earnings.
By midday, and having already ended the previous session 1.5%
lower, the Stoxx Europe 600 was down 0.2%, mirroring similar
declines on Germany's DAX 30, France's CAC 40 and London's FTSE
100.
Shares in British American Tobacco PLC, Finnish stainless
steelmaker Outokumpu Oyj and Belgian food retailer Delhaize Group
were some of the hardest hit by lackluster earnings, while Barclays
PLC shares also slipped into the red.
The British bank said it had taken a new GBP800 million ($1.2
billion) charge in the first quarter for potential fines over its
foreign-exchange activities, dragging its net profit for the period
down to GBP465 million from GBP965 million in the same period last
year.
In currency markets, meanwhile, the euro was around 0.2% higher
against the dollar, building on the previous day's moves.
The bloc's single currency had risen to a near three-week high
against the dollar Tuesday, as the latter was hit by a
disappointing U.S. consumer confidence report and the former
supported by hopes that Greece might be able to secure some extra
funding in the short-term.
Earlier this week, Greece shook up its negotiating team in talks
with international creditors.
Yanis Varoufakis remains finance minister and will continue to
represent Greece in meetings of European finance chiefs. But the
team of negotiators around Mr. Varoufakis, responsible for much of
the policy detail, will now be led by Greek officials who are seen
in some European capitals as more promising mediators.
Analysts broadly described the move as a step in the right
direction but are also warning not to read too much into the
changes.
"It is the policies and not the person that matters in Greek
negotiations," said Nick Lawson, a senior trader at Deutsche Bank.
"Whilst a new negotiating team may be more personable, they don't
have a new deck of policies to take to the table," he said.
Economists at Barclays echoed this, saying that what could be
construed as progress in Greece doesn't change their view on the
euro either and they continue to believe it will be "negatively
affected by political uncertainty and continued cyclical
divergence" over the coming months.
"We continue to forecast the euro to reach $0.98 at the end of
December 2015," they said.
Elsewhere, in debt markets, Government bonds across much of
Europe, and especially Germany, sold off sharply Wednesday, though
investors were quick to call the move a blip rather than a
sustained reversal in the recent ferocious rally.
Yields on German 10-year government debt, which rise as bond
prices fall, pushed above 0.2% for the first time in around a
month, while yields also rose on government debt in France, Austria
and Switzerland, as well as in the Nordics and southern Europe.
Later in the session investors will look to the Federal Open
Market Committee's policy statement released at the conclusion of
its two day meeting, which could shed more light on when the
central bank might raise rates. Most market participants, however,
don't anticipate major policy changes.
"We don't expect any specific forward guidance on the timing of
the liftoff but September remains our base-case," currency
strategists at BNP Paribas wrote in a note.
Write to Josie Cox at josie.cox@wsj.com
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