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European Markets Fall Amid Earnings, M&A(dpa-AFX International Compact Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) PARIS (dpa-AFX) - The European markets are trading lower on Friday, amid a slew of earnings and corporate news, with geo-political worries continuing to weigh on investor sentiment. In economic news, Germany's business confidence declined for a third successive month in July and at a faster-than-expected pace, reports said, citing survey results from the Ifo Institute. The Ifo Business Climate Index fell to 108, which was worse than the 109.4 score forecast by economists. In June, the index had eased to a six-month low of 109.7. Meanwhile, German consumer confidence is set to improve in August to its highest level recorded since December 2006, survey data from market research group GfK showed. The forward-looking consumer sentiment index rose to 9 from 8.9 in July. The U.K. economy expanded as expected in the second quarter underpinned by services and manufacturing, data showed. Gross domestic product grew 0.8 percent sequentially in the second quarter, the same as seen in the first quarter, preliminary data from the Office for National Statistics showed. The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks is falling 0.39 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, is losing 0.27 percent. The German DAX is losing 0.50 percent, the French CAC 40 is declining 0.70 percent and Switzerland's SMI is falling 0.42 percent. The UK's FTSE 100 is down 0.11 percent. In Frankfurt, BASF and Daimler are declining 0.9 percent each. Infineon Technologies and ThyssenKrupp are both down 0.8 percent. Bucking the trend, Commerzbank is gaining 3.7 percent and K+S is up 1.4 percent. Sky Deutschland is gaining 1.7 percent. British Sky Broadcasting Group Plc, known as BskyB, has agreed to acquire 21st Century Fox's 100 percent stake in Sky Italia and its 57.4 percent interest in Sky Deutschland in nearly $9.3 billion deal. BskyB is declining more than 4 percent in London. In Paris, LVMH is declining 6.8 percent, after reporting lower profit for the first half of the year. Department stores operator Kering is falling 3.6 percent. Danone is down 0.4 percent. The French dairy giant said its first-half profit declined from last year, hurt by decreased sales in dairy and early-life nutrition businesses. Lafarge is moderately higher after second-quarter profit rose. Air France-KLM is surging 5 percent. The airline reported sharply narrower net loss in its second quarter. In London, Royal Bank of Scotland is surging 14 percent. The lender said its first-half profit surged from last year, reflecting a fall in impairment losses. Carillion Plc. and Balfour Beatty Plc. are engaged in preliminary discussions in relation to a possible merger of the infrastructure companies. Balfour Beatty is gaining close to 9 percent and Carillion is rising 10.2 percent. Vodafone is gaining 2.3 percent. The telecom giant said its performance is beginning to stabilise quarter-on-quarter in several European markets. The Asian stocks turned in a mixed performance, as commodities declined and regional stocks got little direction from Wall Street following mixed earnings and economic data. In the U.S., futures point to a lower open on Wall Street .U.S. stocks ended largely unchanged overnight, as investors digested a flood of corporate earnings and a slew of economic data, with reports on jobless claims, new home sales and manufacturing activity painting a mixed picture of the economy. Crude for September delivery is falling $0.09 to $101.98 per barrel, while August gold is rising $5.0 to $1295.8 a troy ounce. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX |