Market Commentary and Intraday News

European Stocks Seen Little Changed

249 days ago

(RTTNews) - European stocks are seen opening largely unchanged on Tuesday amid disappointment that Europe has not made more progress towards setting up a new authority to supervise European banks and providing extra aid for Spain, some of the key steps to avoid a potential disintegration of the euro system.

As uncertainty implies a risk, European Commission Vice President Joaquín Almunia on Monday urged Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to make up his mind soon about asking for a second bailout.

Separately, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has warned against rushing to create a new European banking supervisor, saying it was important to create a pan-European banks watchdog than to meet Europe's self-imposed January deadline.

Spain's T-Bill auction results are due later in the day, with the government aiming to raise between EUR 3.5 billion and EUR 4.5 billion from the issue of 12-month and 18-month treasury bills.

Asian markets are trading broadly lower as concerns that a dispute between China and Japan over a group of dispute islands may worsen added to worries over Europe's debt crisis. Crude futures are extending declines following steep losses in the previous session.

In corporate news, BHP Billiton's chief executive officer Marius Kloppers' total pay fell to $9.82 million in fiscal 2012 from $11.63 million in fiscal 2011, the mining giant said in a regulatory filing.

Natuzzi SpA reported a second-quarter net loss of 0.4 million euros compared to a profit of 9.6 million euros in the year ago quarter.

U.K.-based communication services provider BT Group Plc has named Luis Alvarez as chief executive officer of BT Global Services, effective October 1.

European stocks finished with modest losses on Monday as the Fed-inspired cheer faded and investors shifted their focus back to the region's debt crisis. The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks eased 0.4 percent and the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, shed 0.2 percent, while around Europe, Switzerland's SMI, the German DAX, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 and France's CAC 40 fell between 0.1 percent and 0.8 percent.

U.S. stocks snapped a five-session winning streak overnight, as traders cashed in on last week's Federal Reserve-inspired rally. Disappointing manufacturing data also weighed on stocks, with the New York Federal Reserve reporting that conditions for New York manufacturers have deteriorated further in September. The Dow and the S&P 500 slid about 0.3 percent each, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq edged down 0.2 percent.

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