European Stocks Close Lower After Cautious Session

(RTTNews) - Despite coming off early lows, European stocks closed broadly lower on Monday with investors focusing on corporate earnings updates and looking ahead to the upcoming policy meetings of central banks.

The Federal Reserve is scheduled to announce its monetary policy on Wednesday. The bank is widely expected to raise rates by 25 or 50 basis points.

The Bank of England and the European Central Bank are also set to announce their policy statements this week. Both these banks are likely to hike rates by 50 basis points.

The pan European Stoxx 600 ended down 0.17%. Germany's DAX edged down 0.16% and France's CAC 40 ended lower by 0.21%, while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 0.25%. Switzerland's SMI ended 0.42% up.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal and Turkiye ended weak.

Spain edged down marginally. Denmark, Greece and Russia closed higher, while Czech Republic and Sweden ended flat.

In the UK market, Standard Chartered ended 3.45% down. Fresnillo drifted down 2.65%, while Prudential, Scottish Mortgage, Legal & General, Barratt Developments, Antofagasta, Persimmon, BT Group, IAG, Ocado Group and Anglo American Plc lost 1 to 2%.

888 Holdings plunged nearly 28%. The betting and gaming company announced the departure of Itai Pazner, its chief executive officer (CEO) and executive director.

The company also said it has suspended VIP activities in some of its .com markets pending the outcome of an internal compliance investigation.

Sainsbury (J) climbed more than 4%. Auto Trader Group, Kingfisher, Reckitt Benckiser, B&M European Value Retail, Halma, Experian, Sage Group, Unilever, Frasers Group, Burberry Group and British American Tobacco gained 1 to 3%.

British IT services company Computacenter climbed nearly 10% after an announcement that it sees 2022 results slightly ahead of guidance.

In Paris, Renault ended more than 4% down. The automaker has agreed with Japanese automotive firm Nissan Motor for a new collaboration to boost their ties.

Stellantis, Arcelor Mittal, Saint Gobain and Alstom lost 0.9 to 1.6%.

TotalEnergies ended notably lower. The energy firm and its Italian partner Eni S.p.A. have completed the transfer of a 30% interest in exploration Blocks 4 and 9 off the coast of Lebanon to QatarEnergy.

Thales, Danone, Kering and Pernod Ricard gained 1 to 1.6%. Orange, Publicis Groupe, Sanofi and Hermes International also closed higher.

In the German market, Continental, Infineon Technologies, Zalando, Mercede Benz and Vonovia lost 2 to 4%. Deutsche Post, BMW and Brenntag also ended notably lower.

SAP, Beiersdorf, HeidelbergCement, Bayer, Merck, Fresenius Medical Care, Puma, Henkel and Siemens Healthineers ended higher by 1 to 2.2%.

Philips surged nearly 7%. The Dutch health technology company said it would scrap another 6000 jobs worldwide after fresh losses caused by a massive recall of faulty sleep respirators.

On the economic front, Eurozone economic confidence strengthened to a seven-month high in January as there were strong improvements across all sectors except construction, survey data from the European Commission showed Monday.

The economic confidence index rose to 99.9 in January from revised 97.1 in the previous month. Sentiment improved for the third consecutive month to hit the highest level since last June, when the reading was 103.1.

At 10.7, the services confidence index reached the highest since June. The score rose from 7.7 in December and economists' forecast of 7.9.

The German economy contracted at the end of the year, damping the possibility of the euro area skirting a technical recession, as suggested by recent surveys.

Gross domestic product logged an unexpected quarterly fall of 0.2%, reversing the revised 0.5% expansion in the third quarter, preliminary data from Destatis revealed Monday. GDP was forecast to remain flat.

A leading indicator for Switzerland's economy rose at the start of the year, for a second month in a row, to its highest level in seven months reflecting a less gloomier outlook, survey data from the Zurich-based KOF Swiss Economic Institute showed Monday.

The KOF Economic Barometer gained 5.7 points to reach a level of 97.2 in January. Economists had forecast a score of 93.3. The December reading was revised to 91.5 from 92.2.

The January score was the highest since June last year, when the reading was 98.1.