European Markets Cool, Focus on Remaining Issuer Reports
European stock markets opened lower on Friday (February 6th), capping a busy week with major company financial reports. Investors appeared to be starting to slow down after the market's movements over the past few days, following the company's performance results.
The Stoxx 600 Index fell 0.28% shortly after opening. The FTSE 100 weakened almost 0.5%, France's CAC 40 fell almost 0.2%, while Germany's DAX and Italy's FTSE Mib both fell around 0.2% in early trading.
Throughout the week, market direction has been heavily influenced by performance updates from major European companies—from luxury brand LVMH, pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk, energy company Shell, to a number of major banks. These reports are key for investors to assess whether stock valuations are still worthwhile or have become overpriced.
Friday's earnings release schedule is expected to be quieter than previous days. However, several issuers remain in the spotlight, including French bank Societe Generale and Danish offshore wind developer Orsted, which are scheduled to provide performance updates to investors towards the end of the day.
On the corporate side, the market is also monitoring news from the mining sector. Rio Tinto and Glencore confirmed that they have halted talks regarding a potential mega-merger, which was previously touted as having the potential to create the world's largest mining company.
Source: Newsmaker.id
