Europe stock markets crawl higher following Monday selloff

Stock markets in Europe on Tuesday recovered some of the ground lost in the prior session, with gains tentative on continuing worries about trade tensions.

After finishing Monday with the worst fall since October 2 on concerns over U.S. manufacturing and the re-introduction of U.S. tariffs on Brazil and Argentina, the Stoxx Europe 600 added 0.22 percent to 401.88.

The German DAX gained 0.58 percent to 13040.05 while the French CAC 40 dropped 0.07 percent to 5782.91.

The UK’s FTSE 100 inched 0.67 percent lower to 7237.52, pressured as the increase in sterling weighed on British-based multinationals who earn the bulk of their profits outside the country.

The U.S. also introduced its plan to slap tariffs on $2.4 billion of French products, if France goes ahead with a digital services tax mostly aimed at big U.S. tech companies.

Shares of Italian bank UniCredit went higher as it laid out plans, at a London capital markets event, to cut 8,000 jobs at the end of 2023 and return €8 billion to investors. Analysts at UBS said there were no big surprises in the plan, with the guidance for 2020 results looking below consensus but the bank presenting a more attractive shareholder return proposition.

Shares of movie theater operator Cineworld Group grew 3.1 percent as the company said the integration benefits from its purchase of Regal Entertainment will be more than anticipated. The company said 11-month revenue declined 9.7 percent, and that trading for the full year will be slightly below management expectations given the weaker box office.

Source: MarketWatch