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STMicroelectronics rises in fourth quarter sales
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Nokia outperforms profits, profiting on strong forecast
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Investors await US Q4 GDP data
(Adds comments, details, updates prices.)
Ankika Biswas
26 Jan (Reuters) – Strong quarterly results from STMicroelectronics, Sabadell and Nokia eased some concerns about the impact of robust inflation and weaker economic growth on corporate profits, European stocks traded on Thursday. rose.
Pan-European STOXX 600 rose 0.4% in morning trading, led by retail, financial services and banking stocks.
Shares of STMicroelectronics jumped 5.6% after the semiconductor maker reported better-than-expected quarterly sales.
Sabadell jumped 8.8% as Spanish lenders announced share buybacks and a brighter full-year outlook. Meanwhile, Finnish telecom equipment maker Nokia beat its quarterly operating profit forecast, rising 4.4% after forecasting 2023 sales.
“European companies appear to be more resilient than expected,” said Susannah Streeter, senior investment and market analyst at Hargreaves Lansdowne.
“Fears[of a deeper recession]have eased somewhat, which means that the outlook for companies focused on European markets is slightly stronger. It’s still there.”
Investors were also looking forward to US fourth quarter Gross Domestic Product (GDP) data to be released later in the day. This could indicate that the world’s largest economy remains on a strong pace of growth, although momentum appears to have slowed significantly towards the end of the year. because of high interest rates.
Meanwhile, after the electric car maker beat its fourth-quarter earnings forecast and CEO Elon Musk gave a bullish sales outlook, Tesla Inc rose nearly 7% in premarket trading, beating Wall Street at opening. I tried to back it up.
Meanwhile, SAP shares fell 3.4% despite the German software company planning to cut its global workforce by 2.5% and considering selling its remaining stake in Qualtrics.
Expectations of a soft-landing for the Eurozone economy in 2023 have been boosted by China’s resumption of economic activity and Europe’s ability to keep the lights on through the winter, aided by a warmer climate and increased energy capacity.
Strong earnings and sales forecasts for the fourth quarter of 2022 have softened further, with Tuesday’s Refinitiv I/B/E/S data suggesting little earnings growth for European companies. (Reporting by Ankika Biswas of her in Bangalore; Editing by Anil D’Silva and Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
