European Shares Flat To Slightly Higher In Lackluster Trade

European stocks were flat to slightly higher on Tuesday after Fed Vice Chair Lael Brainard signaled that the U.S. central bank will likely soon slow its interest rate hikes.

Weak Chinese data and a rising euro served to cap the upside to some extent.

The euro rose against the dollar to hit a four-month high, as two-year German yields hit 14-year highs amid expectations the European Central Bank (ECB) will probably continue to raise interest rates beyond 2 percent.

The pan European STOXX 600 edged up 0.1 percent to 433.42 after closing 0.1 percent higher on Monday.

France’s CAC 40 rose 0.4 percent and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 added 0.2 percent, while the German DAX was marginally lower.

Danish health care equipment company Ambu plunged more than 13 percent after reporting a quarterly loss.

Credit Suisse fell nearly 2 percent after the Swiss bank said it would sell a significant portion of its securitized products group (SPG) to Apollo Global Management.

ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE fell over 2 percent after the German mass media and digital firm slipped to a loss in the third quarter.

Leoni AG, a cable and harnessing maker, dropped around 1 percent after reporting a wider loss for the third quarter.

French call center company Teleperformance jumped 6 percent after Citigroup upgraded its rating on the stock to “buy” from “neutral.”

British telecom major Vodafone slumped nearly 6 percent after slashing its full-year forecasts and launching a cost-cutting plan.

Plastic components manufacturer Carclo fell more than 2 percent after saying it had promoted David Bedford to Chief Financial Officer with effect from November 14.

Centrica, an energy and services firm, soared 4.3 percent after it launched a £250mn share buyback.

Tobacco company Imperial Brands gained 1.3 percent despite reporting weaker pre-tax profit for fiscal 2022.

In economic releases, German wholesale prices climbed 17.4 percent year-over-year in October, slower than the 19.9 percent spike in September, Destatis reported.

This was the slowest rate of increase since February, when prices had risen 16.6 percent.

Separately, a survey showed France’s unemployment rate fell slightly in the third quarter.

The ILO jobless rate slid to 7.3 percent, as expected, from 7.4 percent in the second quarter.

The number of unemployed decreased by 17,000 over the quarter and reached 2.3 million.

The U.K. unemployment rose slightly in the third quarter ahead of the economy entering a prolonged period of recession, the Office for National Statistics said.

The ILO jobless rate rose slightly to 3.6 percent during July to September from 3.5 percent in three months to August. The rate was forecast to remain unchanged at 3.5 percent.

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