Wednesday European Market Reports

Northern, WI 9/21/2011 (PennyPayDay) – The European markets are mostly retreating in afternoon trading Wednesday, as investors stayed on the sidelines ahead of the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee announcement, despite optimism that Greece will secure its next tranche of financing to avert a default. Asian markets mostly rose, and U.S. index futures are higher.

The Fed, at the end of its 2-day meeting today, is expected to announce some measures to infuse investor confidence, including shifting investment into long-term bonds to bring down long-term rates.

The Greek Finance Ministry has reportedly said that the conference call with the inspectors of the austerity deal has been "satisfactory" so far. A call between the country and the international lenders - the European Union, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank - is in progress to reach an agreement over the next bailout tranche for the debt-ridden country. The heads of the Troika are expected to visit Greece early next week.

The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks is losing 1.22 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, is dropping 0.91 percent.

The German DAX is losing 1.40 percent and the French CAC 40 is losing 1.19 percent. The UK's FTSE 100 is dropping 0.72 percent and Switzerland's SMI is gaining 0.14 percent.

Among the DAX components, Lufthansa is falling 4.3 percent, as the stock reportedly received a broker downgrade.

K+S is losing 3 percent. Basf and Bayer are moderatelylower.

Volkswagen and Daimler are notably lower. BMW is losing 0.88 percent.

Deutsche Bank is falling 0.5 percent, while Commerzbank is rising 0.1 percent. Citigroup cut its price taregt on Deutsche Bank.

Department stores operator Metro is climbing 2.4 percent.

SAP is advancing 1.3 percent after rival Oracle issued an upbeat outlook.

ThyssenKrupp is falling 0.55 percent. Societe Generale raised the stock to "Buy" from "Hold," but reduced the price target.

Chemical firm Lanxess is adding 1.35 percent. The company confirmed its earnings forecast for 2011, citing ongoing strong demand for synthetic rubbers. The firm expects a boost in demand for high-performance rubbers due to the European Union tire labeling legislation that comes into effect in 2012.

SMA Solar is declining 3.9 percent. HSBC cut its rating on the stock to "Underweight" from "Neutral" and reduced its price target. Morgan Stanley also lowered its price target on the stock.

SolarWorld is adding 1.9 percent, although Merrill Lynch reduced its price target for the stock.

Aixtron is down 0.9 percent. Morgan Stanley cut its price target on the stock.

In Paris, BNP Paribas, is retreating 5.3 percent. Credit Agricole and Societe Generale are losing 3.2 percent and 2.4 percent, respectively.

Peugeot is falling 3.8 percent and Renault is losing 2.1 percent.

ArcelorMittal is retreating 1.4 percent. The stock's price target was reduced at Societe Generale.

Loreal is falling 0.3 percent. HSBC raised the stock to "Neutral" from "Underweight," but reduced its price target.

EDF is gaining 1.7 percent and Cap Gemini is advancing 1.4 percent.

In London, miner Antofagasta is losing 3.3 percent, BHP Billiton is down 1.1 percent and Rio Tinto is losing 1.5 percent.

In banking stocks, Barclays is adding 1.2 percent, Lloyds Banking is surging 5.2 percent and Royal Bank of Scotland is rising 2.1 percent. However, HSBC is losing 0.9 percent.

BP is falling 1.2 percent and Royal Dutsch Shell is losing 0.9 percent.

Imperial Tobacco said the overall financial performance and position of the Group for the year remains in line with the Board's expectations and that it expects revenue to increase, driven by growth in Eastern Europe and emerging markets. The stock is adding 1.15 percent.

SABMiller is down 0.4 percent. The brewer agreed to buy Australian beer maker Foster's Group Ltd. for A$5.10 per share, valuing Foster's equity at about A$9.9 billion.

Insurer Aviva is down 2.8 percent. Glencore is losing 3.4 percent and Inmarsat is retreating 3.3 percent.

Burberry is gaining 1.7 percent.

Inditex is up 0.6 percent in Madrid. The textile company reported a 14 percent rise in profit for the first half of the year.

Mobistar is falling 1.7 percent in Brussels, reportedly after a broker downgrade.

UBS is up 1.1 percent and Credit Suisse is adding 3.1 percent in Zurich.

In economic news, minutes of the Bank of England monetary policy committee's September 8 meeting showed that the policymakers voted unanimously to hold the benchmark interest rate steady at 0.5 percent. All the members, except Adam Posen, voted in favor of maintaining the size of the stock of asset purchases financed by the issuance of central bank reserves at 200 billion pounds.

Across Asia/Pacific, most major markets ended higher. Australia's All Ordinaries rose 0.70 percent, China's Shanghai Composite Index climbed 2.66 percent and Japan's Nikkei 225 added 0.23 percent. However, Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 1 percent.

In the U.S., futures point to a higher open on Wall Street. In the previous session, after showing a notable move to the upside over the course of morning trading, the major averages pulled back sharply going into the close, eventually ending the session mixed. While the Dow edged up 0.1 percent, the Nasdaq fell 0.9 percent and the S&P 500 slipped 0.2 percent.

In the commodity space, crude for November delivery is dropping $0.58 to $86.34 per barrel, while December gold is adding $0.7 to $1809.8 a troy ounce.

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