Markets

European equities open little changed

Oil shares higher as top OPEC producer Saudi Arabia threatened to retaliate against any punitive measures over the disappearance of a journalis

Last week’s sell-off across the globe sank European equities as investors rotated out of stocks amid rising bond yields and as the US-China trade conflict developed. Photograph: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg

Mon Oct 15 2018 - 08:42

European equities opened little changed, with oil shares higher as Brent gained and after ConvaTec Group cut its full-year guidance.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index was down less than 0.1 per cent after dropping to the lowest level since December 2016 last week. ConvaTec tumbled 28 per cent after lowering its full-year revenue growth forecast to 1 percent, citing an inventory policy change by a top customer.

BP and Shell climbed as Brent crude climbed after top OPEC producer Saudi Arabia threatened to retaliate against any punitive measures over the disappearance of a journalist. The FTSE 100 Index rose 0.2 per cent even though the UK and the European Union are on course to miss this week's key milestone on the road to a Brexit deal after talks broke up in stalemate on Sunday.

Last week’s sell-off across the globe sank European equities as investors rotated out of stocks amid rising bond yields and as the US-China trade conflict developed.

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“Investor nerves clearly remain a little frazzled amidst this ongoing debate about where the choke point for US interest rates is with regards to both the US economy and the wider stock market,” said William Hobbs, head of investment strategy at Barclays Investment Solutions in London. “The ebbing fiscal sugar high combined with some gathering effects from the trade war may be helping to muddy the debate further.”

“Stocks are still the place to be, particularly relative to a bond market that will continue to wrestle itself back to more normal yields amidst a still healthy global economic backdrop,” Hobbs said.– Bloomberg

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