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Europe close: Excitement cools ahead of US data
Wed, 08 Feb, 2012
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Europe close: Excitement cools ahead of US data
Thu, 26 Aug 2010, 16:15:00
Stocks finished the day higher, but were off their best levels as an early lead on Wall Street disappeared by the time thoughts turned to lunch in New York. Traders welcomed news from America that first-time jobless claims had fallen more than expected to 473,000 in the week ended 21 August. But concerns about the global economy are never far away and investors beat a retreat ahead of tomorrow's latest read on US second-quarter gross domestic product (GDP). Across the markets, Frankfurt ended back near 7-week lows, up just 13 points at 5,912, Paris added 24 t o 3,475, though it had been up as high as 3,491 earlier. In company news, <b> L'Oreal</b> was in demand as the cosmetics giant posted a 21% jump in half year profits after the close last night. French bank <b>Credit Agricole</b> was also wanted after net profits increased by a better than expected 89% to €379m thanks to a strong performance in corporate finance and domestic retail. The rise comes despite a €418m write-down in the second quarter in relation to its Greek unit Emporiki. Corporate and investment banking net banking income rose by 27.3% due partly to robust growth in financing activities (up 42.1%). Hotel firm <b>Accor</b> advanced after narrowing half year losses. The group also expects full-year EBIT to rise to between €370m and €390m from €236m previously. Dutch supermarket chain <b>Ahold</b> saw a small increase in second-quarter profits but warned that conditions for US and European food retailers remained challenging. Full year results from <b>Diageo</b> showed a continuation of the improving trend seen in the Guinness brewer's third quarter as developing markets drove overall growth while markets in North America and Europe remained weak.
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