European stocks slip as Middle East uncertainty makes for caution

Europe’s benchmark equities index slipped on Tuesday, as doubts over a potential Middle East peace deal kept markets ​on edge in advance of the US midterm elections, while investors also assessed a slew of earnings.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index closed 0.58 per cent lower at 645 points, with mining shares leading declines on weaker copper prices.

Iran and the United States are still far from a deal to end their ​war, a senior Iranian official told Reuters. Overnight, the United States carried out what it called defensive strikes on Iran’s Qeshm island.

Brent crude swung between gains and losses and was last ⁠down 1.2 per cent, but above $100 (€88.31) a barrel.

DUBLIN

With oil prices remaining elevated, Ryanair fell almost 1 per cent. The airline has warned that higher fuel prices will soon translate into higher fares.

Cairn Homes rose 1 per cent after the company said Ireland had “little chance” of scaling up home completions to 60,000 a year unless half of all units built are apartments.

Bank of Ireland was down nearly 2 per cent as the outlook for inflation seemed to worsen, increasing the odds of another ECB rate rise next month. The other big mover was food company Glanbia, which saw its shares fall nearly 3 per cent to €19.71.

EUROPE

In Europe, however, Gilles Guibout, head of European equities at BNP Paribas Asset Management, said valuations had cooled, but earnings dynamics were still positive.

“We would rather be in ‘buy on weakness’ mode for the time being, because we don’t think that those investments will be questioned. We could have some projects that could be delayed but, by and large, what we are seeing is that all the investments are fuelled by the need for more ‌compute.”

On the earnings ​front, the German online fashion retailer Zalando fell 6.6 per cent, the ​biggest faller on the Stoxx index, after weaker gross margin and net loss outweighed slightly-better-than-expected sales.

The ‌technology sector lost nearly 1 per cent, with AI heavyweight ​ASML declining 1.6 per cent.

The German pharmaceuticals and agriculture group Bayer rose 3.6 per cent after raising its 2026 ‌profit forecast.

Lufthansa gained 3.9 per cent as analysts pointed to broadly resilient results, despite the carrier trimming its annual profit forecast.

Philips gained 4.8 per cent after reaching a ​preliminary agreement with the US Department of Justice to end investigations linked to the ​Dutch company’s 2021 global recall of sleep and respiratory-care devices.

Sportswear maker Adidas dropped 2.8 per cent after brokerage UBS downgraded it to “sell” from “neutral”.

LONDON

Britain’s FTSE 100 registered its steepest one-day ‌drop in a month on Tuesday, pressured by miners and bank shares, in advance of US midterm elections ‌and this week’s Bank of England interest rate decision.

The blue-chip FTSE 100 index ended down 1.1 per cent at 10,638.43 points, ​following four straight sessions of gains. The midcap FTSE 250 index closed 0.5 per cent lower at 24,674.

The FTSE ​350 basic resources index dropped 2.6 per cent, with Antofagasta down 3.5 per cent and Glencore off 2.8 per cent.

Coca-Cola Europacific Partners fell 2.1 per cent after the ‌bottler flagged cost pressures

Primark owner Associated British Foods led the fallers on the FTSE 100 with ​a 2.2 per cent slip after forecasting lower annual profit.

NEW YORK

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq rose on Tuesday as tech stocks ‌found their footing in advance of US midterm election results, though Apple joined the list of Big Tech companies whose earnings failed to impress investors.

Apple fell 2.2 per cent after the iPhone ​maker warned the cost of memory chips would continue to rise, pressuring its holiday-quarter gross margin.

Chip stocks were among top gainers, with Nvidia climbing 3 per cent after falling for the last four sessions.

The Nasdaq-100 closed more than 10 per cent below its all-time closing high ​on Monday, confirming that the tech-heavy index has entered a correction as investors grow wary of Big Tech’s soaring AI spending and little evidence of adequate returns.

– Additional reporting: Reuters