European stocks close the week sharply lower
European stocks closed lower Friday afternoon, tracking declines in U.S. stocks after tech titans Amazon and Google parent Alphabet Inc missed earnings expectations.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 ended down 1.21 percent at the provisional close. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 traded down 1.4 percent, while France’s CAC 40 and Germany’s DAX lost 1.4 percent and 1.8 percent respectively.
On the week the Stoxx 600 lost 2.9 percent in value.
Third-quarter earnings season has been overshadowed by sell-offs across global markets and sharp downgrades to corporate estimates.
Nonetheless, weaker-than-expected results from Amazon and Alphabet Inc overnight exacerbated investors’ worries about the dominance of tech stocks in this market cycle.
In Europe, every sector closed lower with media and telecoms stocks leading the declines.
Looking at individual stocks, France’s Valeo sank to the bottom of the benchmark, after the car parts company slashed its sales and earnings targets citing industry disruption. Shares of the Paris-listed stock tanked 21.83 percent on the news.
Sweden’s Electrolux also tumbled towards the bottom of the benchmark after the company cut its full-year demand outlook on Friday. Shares of the firm had dropped more 4.39 percent on Friday.
Meanwhile, oil refiner Neste surged higher Friday morning, after the company beat expectations with third-quarter results. The company said it expected 2018 to be a very strong year for the firm. Its shares had bounced 10.47 percent.
Market turmoil
Market focus is largely attuned to another batch of earnings results on Friday, after a turbulent week of trading worldwide.
Financial markets have been hit hard by a range of worries, including the U.S.-China trade war, a rout in emerging market currencies, rising borrowing costs and bond yields and economic concerns in Italy.
U.S. stocks plunged into a correction on Friday as the release of disappointing quarterly results from key tech companies overshadowed strong economic data.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 520 points, with Home Depot lagging, and was about 1 percent away from entering correction levels. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite dropped 3.3 percent.
At the European closing bell, U.S. equities had staged something of a comeback but were still deep in sell-off territory.
