European equities increase slightly as earnings growth forecasts stabilize By Reuters

By Julien Ponthus

LONDON (Reuters) – European stocks edged up on Wednesday following optimism over trade talks in Washington and Beijing that helped lift global markets and data show that earnings growth forecasts for Europe stabilize after sharp downward revisions.

The pan-European group was up 0.3% at 09:43 GMT, Germany, trade-sensitive, by 0.2%.

The Asian stock markets and, before them, Wall Street also made gains hoping that the United States and China will enter into a trade deal and avoid a new round of US tariffs on imports from China, which will enter March 1st.

"The situation regarding trade between the United States and China remains fluid, but the basic scenario of our Asian strategy team is that there will be an agreement," badysts said. Nomura in a strategy note.

The Madrid IBEX was slightly behind its peers, down 0.1%, while the Spanish minority socialist government could announce early parliamentary elections if it lost a vote for its budget following its refusal to negotiate Catalan self-determination.

In the midst of labyrinthine Brexit twists, London slightly outperformed, up 0.4%, after data showed that British inflation had fallen to its lowest level in two years, in January.

A new series of corporate profits triggered a sharp rise in prices, both upwards and downwards.

The Dutch bank ABN Amro, affected by loan write-downs, lost 6.3%, its net profit in the fourth quarter being well below that of badysts.

Heineken, the leading Dutch counterpart, received a totally different reception from the market, up 4.3% and is expected to have its best day since 2015 with better than expected results.

Also in the Netherlands, paint manufacturer Akzo Nobel jumped 3.9% after slightly exceeding expectations.

Amundi, the largest badet manager in the euro zone, was also favorably received by investors, up 4.3%, after confirming its profit targets for 2020, despite unfavorable market conditions in the euro area. fourth trimester.

Other companies with outstanding results in the morning included Ingenico (+ 7.2%), the online gaming company Kindred Group (+ 5.8%) and Swedish Match – + 7.5%, the main winner of the STOXX 600.

These positive results are reflected in the stabilization of earnings forecasts for companies in the STOXX 600 group after a free fall since last November, according to I / B / E / S Refinitiv data.

Profits for the last quarter of 2014 are now expected to increase by 3% year-over-year, a more optimistic outlook than last week's 2.3% forecast.

(Graph: https://tmsnrt.rs/2E6Brwy)