European Markets Close Mixed as Investors Track Earnings, ECB Hike; Credit Suisse Down 18%

The European Central Bank is expected to hike interest rates as the Euro zone tries to tackle mounting inflation.
Daniel Roland | AFP | Getty Images

This is CNBC's live blog covering European markets.

European markets closed mixed on Thursday as investors digested a slew of corporate earnings and the European Central Bank's latest monetary policy decision.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 provisionally closed 0.1% higher, with oil and gas stocks up 3.5% to lead gains. Mining stocks and technology stocks ended the session down around 1.7% and 1.6%, respectively.

The blue chip index trimmed earlier losses after the European Central Bank announced a 75-basis-point interest rate hike — its third consecutive increase this year — while also revealing new conditions for European banks.

Major corporate earnings on Thursday came from Credit Suisse, Shell, Unilever and TotalEnergies, with Credit Suisse's shares falling more than 18% through the day after the bank announced a large third-quarter loss. Bank stocks overall were 1.1% higher.

U.S. stocks opened higher Thursday morning as investors seemed to brush off disappointing results from Meta Platforms.

Shares in the Asia-Pacific were mixed Thursday as investors digested economic data in the region.

U.S. stocks open higher

U.S. stocks opened higher Thursday after the economy grew at a faster-than-expected pace in the third quarter.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.45% in early deals while the S&P 500 was 0.4% higher. The Nasdaq Composite traded was down 0.25%.

— Karen Gilchrist

Stocks on the move: Danske Bank up 12%, Credit Suisse down 13%

Danske Bank shares jumped 12% on Thursday after the lender announced that it was close to a 15.5 billion Danish krone ($2.08 billion) settlement on investigations into Estonian money laundering.

Credit Suisse shares tumbled more than 13% to the bottom of the Stoxx 600 by mid-afternoon trade after the Swiss lender posted a mammoth third-quarter loss and unveiled a radical restructuring plan.

- Elliot Smith

ECB hikes rates by 75 basis points and announces new terms for European banks

The European Central Bank announced Thursday a 75-basis-point interest rate hike — its third consecutive increase this year — while also revealing new conditions for European banks.

The latest rate hike takes the ECB's main benchmark from 0.75% to 1.5%, a level not seen since 2009 before the sovereign debt crisis. It comes after the central bank rose rates by 50 basis points in July and 75 basis points in September.

The ECB also announced that it was changing the terms and conditions of its targeted longer-term refinancing operations, or TLTROs — a tool that provides European banks with attractive borrowing conditions, designed to incentivize lending to the real economy.

Read the full story here.

- Silvia Amaro

Credit Suisse shares tank

Credit Suisse shares are down over 14% in European morning trade. Here's how they've performed over the last five days:

— Katrina Bishop

Credit Suisse shares down 14% after huge loss and business overhaul

Credit Suisse shares tumbled more than 14% to the bottom of the Stoxx 600 by mid-morning trade after the Swiss lender posted a mammoth third-quarter loss and unveiled a radical restructuring plan.

At the top of the European blue chip index, Swedish real estate company SBB climbed more than 10% after a strong third-quarter earnings report.

- Elliot Smith

Oil giant Shell reveals plans to hike dividend as it reports third-quarter profit

The sign of a Shell petrol station is seen in front of a burning pilot flame atop a flare stack at the refinery of the Shell Energy and Chemicals Park Rheinland in Godorf near Cologne, Germany, August 3, 2022. 
Wolfgang Rattay | Reuters
The sign of a Shell petrol station is seen in front of a burning pilot flame atop a flare stack at the refinery of the Shell Energy and Chemicals Park Rheinland in Godorf near Cologne, Germany, August 3, 2022. 

Shell reported adjusted earnings of $9.45 million for the third quarter, in line with market expectations, but lower refining and trading revenues brought an end to its run of record quarterly earnings.

The oil major said it intends to increase dividend per share by around 15% for the final quarter of the year, to be paid out in March.

The company also announced a new share buyback program, which aims to bring in an additional $4 billion of distributions and is expected to be completed by its next earnings release.

The stock jumped almost 4% in early European trade off the back of these results.

- Silvia Amaro

Watch CNBC's full interview with Credit Suisse CEO Ulrich Koerner as the bank undergoes a major overhaul

Watch CNBC's full interview with Credit Suisse's new CEO Ulrich Koerner as he outlines a 4 billion Swiss franc ($4.05 billion) cash raising programme as part of a major strategic overhaul at the bank.

Stocks on the move: Credit Suisse down 7%, Aegon up 7%

Earnings were the main driver of individual share price movement in Europe on Thursday.

Credit Suisse shares tumbled more than 7% in early trade after the Swiss lender posted a mammoth third-quarter loss and unveiled a radical restructuring plan.

At the bottom of the Stoxx 600, Swedish engineering consultancy Sweco fell more than 9% after disappointing third-quarter earnings.

At the top of the index, Aegon shares rose more than 7% after the insurer announced it would sell its Dutch insurance operations to ASR in a cash and shares deal worth around 4.9 billion euros ($4.93 billion).

- Elliot Smith

Credit Suisse posts huge third-quarter loss as it announces major strategic overhaul

Signage hangs over the entrance of a Credit Suisse Group AG branch in Zurich, Switzerland, on Sunday, Sept. 25, 2022. Inflation in Switzerland has more than doubled since the start of the year and the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs expects it to come in at a three-decade-high of 3% for 2022. Photographer: Pascal Mora/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Signage hangs over the entrance of a Credit Suisse Group AG branch in Zurich, Switzerland, on Sunday, Sept. 25, 2022. Inflation in Switzerland has more than doubled since the start of the year and the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs expects it to come in at a three-decade-high of 3% for 2022. Photographer: Pascal Mora/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Credit Suisse on Thursday posted a quarterly loss that was significantly worse than analyst estimates, as it announced a massive strategic overhaul.

The embattled lender posted a third-quarter net loss of 4.034 billion Swiss francs ($4.09 billion), but noted that the scale of the loss reflected a 3.655 billion Swiss franc impairment relating to the "reassessment of deferred tax assets as a result of the comprehensive strategic review."

In its widely anticipated strategic shift, Credit Suisse vowed to "radically restructure" its investment bank to significantly cut its exposure to risk-weighted assets, which are used to determine a bank's capital requirements. It also aims to cut its cost base by 15%, or 2.5 billion Swiss francs, by 2025.

Read the full story here.

- Elliot Smith

Unilever quarterly sales rise 10.6%

Unilever raised its sales estimates and posted a better-than-expected 10.6% increase in third-quarter sales. Analysts had forecast growth of 8%.

The company has hiked consumer prices in the last year to accommodate skyrocketing costs.

— Hannah Ward-Glenton

CNBC Pro: Big profits at European banks – but don’t buy their shares yet, strategist says

European banks have reported billions in third-quarter profits. UBS, Barclays, Deutsche Bank, Santander and HSBC have all beaten analyst expectations.

Yet, investment advisors are suggesting investors should avoid the lenders' shares. Why?

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Ganesh Rao

European markets: Here are the opening calls

European markets are expected to open fractionally lower this morning, with the FTSE down 26 points to 7,025 and Germany's DAX index down 60 points to 13,135.

France's CAC will be down 23 points to 6,254 while Italy's MIB index will be 130 points down to open at 21,159, according to data from IG.

— Hannah Ward-Glenton

CNBC Pro: These 'all-weather' stocks can protect your portfolio in a recession, says outperforming fund manager

Top Wall Street executives say a recession is coming. But these three stocks "will work in any type of economic environment," says Foord Asset Management's Brian Arcese.

The portfolio manager, whose funds have outperformed the market this year, shared how investors can "recession proof" their portfolios.

Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Zavier Ong

Meta sinks 19% on disappointing outlook, earnings miss

Shares of Meta Platforms plummeted more than 19% in extended trading Wednesday after the Facebook parent shares a weak fourth-quarter forecast and earnings estimates fell show of Wall Street's expectations.

Meta Platforms reported adjusted earnings per share of $1.64 on revenues of $27.71 billion. Analysts surveyed by Refinitiv had expected earnings of $1.89 a share on $27.38 billion in revenue. The technology behemoth also posted its second consecutive revenue decline.

For the fourth quarter, the company said it expects revenue to come in between $30 billion to $32.5 billion, compared to consensus estimates of $32.2 billion.

Meta Platforms faces a slew of challenges including headwinds from Apple's privacy changes and a tough advertising environment as recession fears mount.

As of Wednesday's close shares have toppled more than 61% this year.

— Samantha Subin

CNBC Pro: Stocks and bonds are struggling. Give these strategies a shot, say Goldman and others

Both stocks and bonds have struggled this year, leaving investors with few alternatives.

Analysts share their strategies on how to thrive in these difficult conditions — including one behind the success of an index that was "almost a mirror image" of the losses in the S&P 500 index.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Weizhen Tan

China industrial profits fell 2.3% for the first nine months of the year

Industrial profits in China for January to September fell 2.3% from the same period a year ago, according to official data from the National Bureau of Statistics.

The decline is slightly steeper than the 2.1% drop reported for the January-August period for the year.

Profits at manufacturing companies fell 13.2% in the first nine months of the year, data showed.

— Abigail Ng

Copyright CNBC
Contact Us