US stocks fluctuate as markets mull midterm election results

US stocks declined on Wednesday following in the wake of midterm elections that failed to deliver a conclusive win for the Republican Party in Congress

European stocks fell for the first time in four days as investors turned cautious in advance of key US inflation data, while also monitoring headlines on the war in Ukraine.

Dublin

Dragged lower by the performance of the larger caps, the Iseq index, down close to 1 per cent, underperformed its European peers in trading on Wednesday.

Paddy Power owner Flutter Entertainment suffered the largest decline in the session despite delivering a 31 per cent increase in revenues in the third quarter, according to a trading update on Wednesday. Shares in Flutter closed down at €135.05 in Dublin, a 3.7 per cent decline Traders said a negative read-through from Flutter’s UK peers Entain and Playtech may have also played a part in the drop off.

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Box-maker Smurfit Kappa finished the session at €34.51, down by just over 2 per cent while shares in Ryanair declined to €12.98, down 0.6 per cent on the day, giving up some of Tuesday’s post-trading update gains.

Moving in the opposite direction, shares in sandwich maker Glanbia were up more than 2.5 per cent on Wednesday on high volumes. Traders in Dublin said movement by institutional investors had buoyed the company’s shares price through the session.

Kingspan, meanwhile, gained 0.9 per cent to €55.74 per share after updating its full-year profit guidance on Monday.

London

The blue chip FTSE 100 index, down close 0.2 per cent on the session, continued to tread water on Wednesday.

A dire costs warning from Marks and Spencer in its half year results rattled other retailers. Shares in the food and clothing giant fell nearly 3.4 per cent after it warned of a “gathering storm” of higher costs and household budget pressures. Grocery delivery tech company Ocado tumbled five per cent. The broader retail subindex has dropped more than 38 per cent this year.

Shares in Anglo-Swiss commodity trader Glencore, meanwhile, shed 2.9 per cent of their value after the company was fined £281 million (€318 million) last week by UK authorities after an investigation found it paid millions in bribes to gain preferential access to oil in Africa to boost profits. It was reported earlier this week that the company is now being sued by investors over the scandal.

Shares in Aer Lingus owner IAG continued to rise following last week’s upbeat trading update. Luxury car-maker Rolls-Royce continued on the upward trajectory that has seen its share price rise almost 30 per cent since mid-October.

Europe

The pan-Europe Stoxx 600 Index closed down 0.3 per cent after briefly paring declines on news that Russia ordered its troops to leave Ukraine’s city of Kherson, the first big regional centre seized in its invasion, in a highly symbolic setback for President Vladimir Putin.

The French Cac 40 and German DAX index were both essentially flat on the session.

Adidas shares recovered from early declines that were fuelled by a third cut in its forecast since the summer, after taking into account the impact of discontinuing the Yeezy line of sneakers. Dutch ABN Amro Bank gained after reporting third-quarter profit that was more than twice what analysts were expecting.

Shares in German medical device maker Siemens Healthineers gained 3.8 per cent after the company announced plans to overhaul its diagnostics divisions.

Meanwhile, after publishing a trading update that revealed a 52 per cent decline in third quarter net profits, shares in Frankfurt-anchored Commerzbank tumbled close to 6.9 per cent in trading.

New York

With investors mulling the midterm election results, the S&P 500 halted a three-day rally, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 leading losses among big benchmarks.

Sentiment also took a hit from renewed selling in cryptocurrencies, with Binance seen increasingly unlikely to follow through on its takeover of FTX. Bitcoin sank almost 10 per cent to the lowest since November 2020.

Walt Disney sank 11 per cent as quarterly results missed across the board, and Sunday Times publisher News Corp dropped 5 per cent after posting first-quarter adjusted earnings that missed the average analyst estimate.

Facebook and Instagram parent Meta gained close to 7 per cent after chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said the company will cut more than 11,000 jobs. – Additional reporting: Bloomberg, Reuters