Energy keeps European shares under pressure; UBS shines after results
By Ankika Biswas
(Reuters) -European shares continued to lose ground on Tuesday, dragged by energy stocks, while financial services got a boost from Switzerland's biggest bank UBS Group jumping to a more than one-month high following its third-quarter results.
The pan-European STOXX 600 was down 0.3% by 0945 GMT, set for the second day of losses, having snapped a five-day gaining streak on Monday.
It had climbed more than 3% last week amid robust earnings and signs of an end to rate hikes by major central banks.
Some caution also persisted ahead of remarks from key central bank speakers this week, including U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Wednesday and Thursday.
«It's not that the enthusiasm over the peak in rate hikes has gone away… the only hope we have (against a weak macro backdrop) is to see inflation coming down and see the central banks talking a little bit more about rate cuts or at least mention it,» said Michael Field, Europe market strategist at Morningstar.
ECB's vice president Luis de Guindos, meanwhile, said the euro zone's economy is likely to contract slightly or at best stagnate in the fourth quarter.
Energy stocks led sectoral declines with a 1.5% fall, tracking a near-2% drop in crude oil prices.
UBS gained 3.3% after posting better-than-expected underlying net profit in the third quarter and signalling that its core wealth business is stabilising, even as net profit missed expectations.
The financial services index was up 0.6%, having touched a three-week high in early trade.
Watches of Switzerland soared 8.3% to the top of the STOXX 600 as it expects to more than double its annual profit by 2028.
AB Foods (LON:ABF) soared 5.6% after the Primark-owner forecast «meaningful progress» in its
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