European shares lifted by Adidas, LVMH on healthy earnings

With interest rates at record highs, investors are keeping a close eye on the health of corporate Europe this earnings season.

European shares rose on Wednesday, though not too far off their one-month low, lifted by healthy quarterly results from consumer companies LVMH and Adidas, while investors kept a cautious watch on developments in the Middle East.

The continent-wide STOXX 600 was 0.5% higher by 0854 GMT, helped by a 2.2% advance in the personal and household goods sector. Adidas jumped 6.3% to an over two-year high, topping Germany's blue-chip index, as the sportswear company hiked its outlook for 2024 after posting better-than-expected preliminary results for the first quarter.

LVMH rose 4.4%, driving a 1.9% rise in the luxury sector, after the world's largest luxury group's quarterly sales rose 3%, offering some reassurance to investors concerned about the industry's outlook, particularly in China. "You've seen relatively strong performance from equities up until last week and first-quarter earnings generally are about somehow validating the moves that we've seen... and if corporate profitability is as resilient as people hope," said Richard Flax, chief investment officer at Moneyfarm.

Keeping a lid on gains, the technology sector dropped 2%, hauled down by ASML's 4.6% slide after Europe's biggest tech firm reported weaker-than-expected new bookings in the first quarter. With interest rates at record highs, investors are keeping a close eye on the health of corporate Europe this earnings season. The technology sector is in the spotlight, having spearheaded the benchmark index's rally since late last year due to optimism over the proliferation of artificial intelligence.

Overall first-quarter profits are expected to have declined 12.1% from the previous year, according to latest LSEG data. On the data front, euro zone inflation slowed across the board in March, reinforcing expectations for a European Central Bank interest rate cut in June, even as rising energy costs and a weak euro cloud the outlook, final data from Eurostat showed.

In that light, investors will be tuned into remarks from ECB policymakers, including Isabel Schnabel, Piero Cipollone and Pablo Hernandez de Cos, later in the day. Among other stocks, Continental lost 4.4%, to the bottom of the DAX, after the automotive supplier's first-quarter revenue and profit margin missed expectations.

TomTom slumped 11.3% on a wider-than-expected first-quarter core loss, while Just Eat Takeaway's downbeat first-quarter orders sent its shares 4.4% down, to the bottom of the STOXX index.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)