By Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch)--European stock markets struggled for
direction on Tuesday, as companies such as Vodafone and Marks &
Spencer declined after full-year earnings, while Credit Suisse
advanced after reaching a settlement with the U.S. Department of
Justice.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index rose 0.1% to 338.69, but swung
between small gains and losses. Read: Euroskeptics and extremists
to dominate in Europe's week ahead
Helping lift the index, shares of Credit Suisse Group AG (CS)
advanced 1% after the bank reached a settlement with U.S.
authorities and admitted to aiding tax evasion. Analysts commented
that the more-than-$2 billion fine looked manageable and that the
settlement removes an uncertainty that has been pushing the stock
lower recently.
Other banks were also in the spotlight. Shares of Credit
Agricole SA dropped 0.6% and HSBC Holdings PLC (HSBC) gave up 0.8%,
while J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) was unchanged in U.S.
premarket trade after the European Commission formally charged the
three banks with antitrust violations on suspicion they colluded to
rig European interest rates.
Vodafone Group PLC (VOD) declined 3.8% after the U.K. telecom
giant said full-year adjusted operating profit fell 37% and revenue
slipped 1.9%.
Marks & Spencer Group PLC dropped 3.3% after the U.K.
retailer said pretax profit fell for the full year.
The stock losses for Vodafone and M&S weighed on the U.K.'s
FTSE 100 index , which underperformed the most of Europe. The
benchmark fell 0.4% to 6,818.54.
BP PLC (BP) also declined in London, down 0.9% after an appeals
court in New Orleans rejected the oil major's request for a review
of the settlement case for victims of the Deepwater Horizon
oil-spill disaster.
U.K. inflation
In data news in the U.K., the Office for National Statistics
said consumer prices grew by 1.8% in April year-over-year, up from
inflation of 1.6% in March. Analysts said the rise was largely due
to the timing of Easter, when travel fares rise more than
usual.
In its May Inflation Report published last week, the Bank of
England said it expects the inflation rate to stand around 1.8% in
April, May and June, so the latest figures shouldn't change much
from a policy perspective, Victoria Clarke, economist at Investec,
said in a note.
"We would expect the dovish slant to policy presented alongside
the 14 May Inflation Report to persist, reinforcing views that the
Committee is in no hurry to raise rates," she said.
Elsewhere, Germany's DAX 30 index was marginally higher at
9,659.80, while France's CAC 40 index dropped 0.2% to 4,461.93.
Outside the major country-specific indexes, shares of Alfa Laval
AB advanced 2.9% after the Swedish engineering group said it won an
order for marine-exhaust-gas cleaning systems worth 75 million
Swedish kronor ($11.35 million).
United Internet AG picked up 7% after the German software firm
said first-quarter sales rose to a record level, representing
almost 13% year-over-year growth.
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