Europe Round Up

From a major NY trading desk:

European markets opened a few points above flat, fell by nearly -1%, and have since rallied back to the unchanged mark: DAX -0.1%; CAC -0.2%; FTSE -0.1%. Earnings season is now in full swing in the U.K. and on the continent. Dutch supermarket chain Ahold is modestly lower after a slight revenue miss, luxury retailer LVMH beat its estimates on Vuitton bag sales (the Chinese apparently scooped them up) and better demand for cognac (CFO Guiony: “we’re beginning to see some light at the end of the tunnel”).

Micronas Semi, the Swiss maker of semiconductors for the automotive and consumer goods industries, is flat after beating its revenue and Ebit numbers but missing on the bottom line. Swedish ball bearings maker SKF is down -3.4% after missing its sales estimate by a significant margin (Sek13.3 billion versus the consensus Sek15.4 billion). It’s a mixed bag sector-wise: financials are down, as are the miners and energy names, while food/grocers and telecoms are higher.

• Finnish unemployment fell to 7.3% in September from 7.6% in August.
• Dutch unemployment ticked up to 5.1% in September from 5% in August.
• Slovakian unemployment ticked up to 12.5% in September from 12.1% y/y in August.
• German producer prices fell -0.5% m/m in September, dragging the year-on-year rate down to -7.6% y/y from -6.9% y/y in August.
• Estonian producer prices rose 0.1% m/m in September, leaving the year-on-year rate little changed at -1.5% y/y.
• Slovenian producer prices fell -2.8% y/y in September, better than August’s -3.3% y/y decline.
• Austrian producer prices rose 0.6% m/m in August, improving the year-on-year rate to -2.7% y/y from July’s -3.4% y/y decline.
• Portuguese producer prices fell -0.3% m/m in September, enough to bump the year-on-year rate up to -5.2% y/y from -5.5% y/y in August.
• Hungarian wage growth slowed to 0.6% y/y in August from 1.5% y/y in July.
• Italian industrial orders fell -8.6% m/m in August, worsening the year-on-year rate to -27.5% from July’s -23.2% y/y decline.
• Italian industrial sales fell -1.4% m/m in August, enough to bump the year-on-year rate up to -21.2% from July’s -21.7% y/y decline.
• U.K. Public Sector Net Borrowing (the budget deficit) ticked up to Gbp14.8 billion in September from Gbp14.7 billion in August. That’s the heftiest borrowing requirement since 1993.
• U.K. money supply growth (M4) slowed in September to 11.3% y/y from 12.1% y/y in August.
• Euro zone construction output fell -0.4% m/m in August, dropping the year-on-year rate to -11.3% from July’s -9.8% y/y decline.

Source: Bloomberg