European Equities Close Mostly Lower in Tuesday Trading; European Commission Probes Google for Competition Violations
The European stock markets closed mostly lower in Tuesday trading as the Stoxx Europe declined 0.04%, the FTSE 100 was down 0.03%, France's CAC fell 0.69%, the Swiss Market Index dropped 0.39%, and Germany's DAX gained 0.53%.
In Germany, exports rose 0.1% in October compared with September, while imports fell 1.2%, after adjusting for calendar and seasonal effects, according to the Federal Statistical Office. Compared with a year earlier, exports and imports increased 4.2% and 2.8% respectively.
Meanwhile, the FSO also reported that the trade balance was a surplus of 16.9 billion euros ($19.7 billion) in October, compared with 15.3 billion euros in September. A year earlier, the trade balance was 14.6 billion euros.
And in corporate news, the European Commission is investigating Alphabet's Google unit to determine whether it has violated EU competition rules by using content from web publishers and YouTube for artificial intelligence purposes, the Commission said Tuesday.
The Commission said the probe will assess whether Google gives itself preferential access to such content, imposes unfair terms on publishers and creators, or puts rival AI developers at a disadvantage.
Banco Santander subsidiary Deva Capital Investment's acquisition of Novares has been approved by the European Commission, the regulator said Tuesday. Novares is a French designer and builder of automotive components and systems.
The commission said it concluded the merger would not raise competition concerns because the companies are not involved in the same or related markets.
Shares of the Spanish lender were up 0.5% in Madrid.
Novartis said Tuesday that its phase 3 study evaluating ianalumab plus eltrombopag in patients with primary immune thrombocytopenia showed extended disease control by 45%, based on the primary endpoint of time to treatment failure.
Patients also achieved a "significantly" higher rate of sustained platelet count improvement at six months compared with placebo plus eltrombopag, meeting the key secondary endpoint, Novartis said.
The Swiss pharmaceutical company also reported trial results Tuesday that showed one in four metastatic breast cancer patients remained progression-free for four or more years following treatment with Kisqali plus endocrine therapy. The data showed that the patients had a median progression-free survival of 6.8 years, Novartis said.
Shares of Novartis gained 1.6% in Zurich.
Ryanair said Tuesday it will reduce its 2026/2027 winter schedule in Brussels after the Belgian government decided to double the country's aviation tax to 10 euros ($11.64) per departing passenger from 2027.
The carrier said it plans to reduce about 1 million seats, cut five based aircraft, and 13 routes from Charleroi and 7 from Zaventem.
Shares of the Irish airline operator were down 0.6% in Dublin.
Source : Mtnewswires.com
