European stocks weakened on Wednesday, influenced by a decline in eurozone economic sentiment in December, as well as a fall in German retail sales and factory orders. Market participants also awaited the minutes from the Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy meeting, set to be released later today, and the upcoming U.S. jobs data.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 index dipped by 0.19%. Germany's DAX saw a marginal decline of 0.07%, and France's CAC 40 dropped by 0.49%. Meanwhile, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 inched up by 0.07%, and Switzerland's SMI rose by 0.38%.
Other European markets, including Austria, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, and Turkey, closed with losses. In contrast, Denmark and Russia experienced gains, while Belgium, Greece, and Sweden remained stable.
In the U.K. market, firms such as Barratt Redrow, St. James's Place, United Utilities, JD Sports Fashion, Legal & General, British Land, M&G, and Prudential saw decreases ranging from 3% to 5.1%.
Shell's shares declined by 1.4% following its reduced LNG production outlook for Q4 and a projected significant reduction in trading results for its chemicals and oil products division compared to Q3.
Companies like EasyJet, Lloyds Banking Group, Aviva, Persimmon, Kingfisher, Next, Halma, Segro, and Hiscox faced notable losses as well.
On the upside, BAE Systems increased by over 3%. Pershing Square Holdings advanced nearly 2.5%, while Standard Chartered, Smith (DS), Relx, HSBC Holdings, Antofagasta, Reckitt Benckiser, Compass Group, Convatec Group, and Haleon recorded gains between 1% and 2%.
Within the French market, Eurofins Scientific, STMicroElectronics, and Vivendi declined by more than 4.5%. Stellantis fell approximately 2.5% following the announcement that its racing division, Stellantis Motorsport, is partnering with Intel Automotive, an Intel Corp. affiliate, for technical pursuits in Formula E to expedite technology development for the electric racing series.
Teleperformance, Kering, Capgemini, L'Oreal, Vinci, and LVMH also experienced losses of 1% to 2.5%. On a positive note, Thales rallied by about 4%, and Edenred gained nearly 4%. Societe Generale rose by roughly 2%.
In Germany, Siemens Energy fell over 5%, while Infineon dropped nearly 4%. Other companies such as Brenntag, BMW, RWE, Vonovia, Zalando, Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, Puma, Daimler Truck Holding, Merck, BASF, Fresenius Medical Care, and Sartorius recorded declines between 1% and 2.7%.
Conversely, Rheinmetall surged by about 5%, HeidelbergCement increased by 2.5%, and MTU Aero Engines, Deutsche Boerse, and Henkel rose between 1% and 1.7%.
TeamViewer shares soared over 8% after reporting a 2024 revenue of 671 million euros, a 9% increase from 2023's 626.7 million euros, attributed to stronger-than-expected full-year billings nearing 700 million euros, largely driven by significant enterprise and frontline transactions in late Q4.
Previously, TeamViewer had anticipated its annual revenue to range between 662 million euros and 668 million euros.
Economically, euro area economic confidence reached its lowest point in over a year in December. While services sentiment saw improvement, it was overshadowed by weakened confidence in industry, construction, and consumer sentiment. The economic sentiment index unexpectedly dropped to 93.7 in December from 95.6 in November.
Eurozone producer price declines moderated in November amidst a slowdown in falling energy costs, posting an annual reduction of 1.2% following a 3.3% decrease in October.
Data from Destatis revealed a 2.5% annual increase in German retail sales for November; however, retail sales experienced a 0.6% monthly decline in November following an adjusted 0.4% rise in October. Throughout 2024, retail sales increased by 1.3% in real terms compared to the previous year, with a first-half drop of 0.4% being offset by a 3% second-half increase. In nominal terms, 2024's retail sales rose by 2.7%.
Moreover, factory orders in Germany contracted by 5.4% month-over-month in November, according to a report from the Federal Statistical Office, following a 1.5% decrease in October.
Meanwhile, French consumer confidence fell unexpectedly in December to its lowest in a year, registering 89.0, down from 90.0 in November, as reported by INSEE. France's trade deficit narrowed to 7.1 billion euros in November from a downwardly revised 7.5 billion euros in October. The country's current account deficit lessened to 1.7 billion euros in November from a revised 1.9 billion euros in October, with exports rising to 50.10 billion euros and imports increasing to 57.186 billion euros.
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