European markets extend losses as weak IFO data, mixed earnings weigh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . European shares extended losses in mid-morning trading Friday as investors reacted to mixed earnings and weak economic data from Germany amid ongoing events in Gaza and Ukraine. - STOXX Europe 600 lost 0.24 percent to 343.55 points - Euro Stoxx 50 fell 0.48 percent to 3,204.54 points Mixed Data Weigh Data released earlier in the day showed German business confidence, slipped more than estimates in July on geopolitical tensions in Ukraine and low inflation in the euro-area. The business climate index retreated for a third straight month in July to 108.0 from 109.7 recorded in June. Elsewhere, UK’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) expanded by 0.8 percent in the April-June period, the same strong pace as in the first three months of the year and in line with forecasts in a Reuters poll of economists. Compared with the second quarter of last year, growth was 3.1 percent, the fastest pace since the end of 2007. In the previous session the International Monetary Fund (IMF) raised its GDP forecast for a fourth time in a row to 3.2 percent. The upgrade means that the UK economy is set to grow at almost twice the pace of the the United States 1.7 percent growth, Germany by 1.9 percent. - British FTSE 100 was down 0.11% to 6,814.11 points - Germany`s DAX edged 0.52% lower to 9,743.19 points - France’s CAC 40 index declined 78% to 4,376.33 points Mixed Earnings Results Shares of Rupert Murdoch-backed BSkyB dropped early in the day after the company announced plans to create a European pay-TV powerhouse with the purchase of 21st Century Fox`s stakes in Sky Italia and Sky Deutschland. Shares of Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC leapt 12 percent as the company said it expects pretax profit of £2.65 billion for the first half of the year, compared with £1.37 billion in the year-ago period. Meanwhile, the heavily weighted Vodafone saw its shares rise by 1.5 percent with the telecoms firm saying that some of its key European markets were showing signs of stabilization. #egyptyard
Posted on: Fri, 25 Jul 2014 12:28:04 +0000
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