European stock markets fell on Thursday amid a flood of disappointing corporate earnings and economic indicators, with uncertainty over AI spending profitability and U.S. political futures. The CAC 40 in Paris dropped 1.05%, the DAX in Frankfurt declined 1.03%, and London’s FTSE 100 lost 0.61%. Major companies like BNP Paribas and TotalEnergies reported lower-than-expected results, weighing heavily on market sentiment. Concerns over inflation, retail sales, and looming U.S. presidential elections further fueled market unease.
by Pauline Foret
(Reuters) – European stock markets closed lower on Thursday amid a flurry of corporate earnings reports and economic indicators, as uncertainty looms over the profitability of AI expenditures and the political future of the United States.
In Paris, the CAC 40 dropped by 1.05% to 7,350.37 points. Frankfurt’s DAX decreased by 1.03%, while London’s FTSE 100 fell by 0.61%.
The EuroStoxx 50 index finished down by 1.34%, the FTSEurofirst 300 by 1.11%, and the Stoxx 600 by 1.27%.
This earnings season has seen many companies report figures below expectations, which has heavily affected market sentiment. Major players like TotalEnergies, BNP Paribas, and Anheuser-Busch InBev have seen their stock prices slide after failing to meet estimates, dragging down most European sub-indices in their wake.
In the US, Meta’s recent warnings regarding a surge in spending on generative artificial intelligence have pulled both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq lower.
‘The results have been somewhat disappointing for investors, reflected in the weakness of the Nasdaq, which has further weakened sentiment in the Stoxx 600,’ noted Daniela Hathorn, senior market analyst at Capital.com.
On the macroeconomic front, the upcoming US election is also causing concerns, with the presidential race expected to be extremely tight. For weeks, markets have been betting on a victory for Donald Trump over Kamala Harris, while opinion polls remain uncertain.
‘Trump threatens numerous tariffs — it remains to be seen what this would mean for international trade. We are likely to witness a decline in productivity across many businesses exposed to the US, thus investors are apprehensive,’ explained Hathorn.
Several economic indicators released during the session revealed a surprising rebound in inflation in the eurozone, positive retail sales in Germany, and a strengthening of household spending in the United States.
STOCKS
In Paris, BNP Paribas fell by 4.75% following disappointing results in its consumer credit and auto leasing operations for the third quarter.
In contrast, competitor Société Générale gained 11.27% after reporting better-than-expected third-quarter earnings, driven by a rebound in retail banking and strong equities performance, alongside announcing a management reshuffle.
Spie dropped by 5.29%, with organic growth and production disappointing analysts’ expectations.
In Zurich, SoftwareOne plummeted by 38.96% after substantially lowering its annual revenue forecasts on Thursday.
Amid uncertainty regarding future trade relations between the US and Europe, the retail sector fell by 4.14%.
IN WALL STREET
As Europe closed, Wall Street deepened its losses, with the Dow Jones down 0.67%, the S&P 500 down 1.46%, and Nasdaq Composite — sensitive to tech stocks — declining by 2.40%.
In terms of stocks, the technology sector wavered following results from Microsoft and Meta, which fell by 5.64% and 4.0%, respectively. Nvidia, Amazon, Alphabet, and Apple all saw losses between 0.5% and 4.3%.
Uber was down 11.26% after releasing quarterly results, and Estée Lauder collapsed by 20.29% after retracting its 2025 revenue forecasts.
Markets are now looking ahead to Amazon and Apple, the last two ‘megacaps’ to disclose their earnings this week.
KEY INDICATORS
Preliminary inflation data in France stood at 1.5% for October, while German retail sales showed unexpected growth in September. In the eurozone, inflation accelerated again to reach 2% in October.
Across the Atlantic, unemployment claims unexpectedly dropped to 216,000 for the week ending October 26, compared to expectations of 230,000, while the PCE price index rose by 0.2% month-on-month in September, in line with forecasts.
FOREX
The dollar showed some strength on Thursday after data indicated a decrease in pressure on consumer prices, bolstering bets that the Federal Reserve could lower interest rates by 25 basis points next week.
The dollar rose by 0.13% against a basket of benchmark currencies.
Following data that confirmed another rise in eurozone inflation, the euro gained 0.03% to 1.