European Markets Sink On Weak Chinese Trade Data

(RTTNews) - The European markets ended Thursday's session solidly in negative territory. Investor sentiment took a hard hit after the release of the weaker than expected Chinese trade report. The disappointing data sparked concerns among traders over the health of the global economy.

Mining stocks were under pressure after the weak Chinese trade report. Financial stocks and automakers were also among the decliners. Technology stocks also extended the weakness of the previous session, after yesterday's warning from Ericsson.

China's exports declined more than expected in September reflecting subdued global demand, data from the General Administration of Customs revealed Thursday.

Exports dropped notably by 10 percent in September from prior year, much bigger than the expected fall of 3.3 percent. Shipment had declined 2.8 percent in August.

At the same time, imports slid 1.9 percent annually, confounding expectations for an increase of 0.9 percent and reversing a 1.5 percent rise in August, which was the first increase in almost two years.

As a result, the trade surplus narrowed to $42 billion compared to the expected level of $53 billion.

The pan-European Stoxx Europe 600 index weakened by 0.88 percent. The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone blue chip stocks decreased 1.10 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, lost 0.98 percent.

The DAX of Germany dropped 1.04 percent and the CAC 40 of France fell 1.06 percent. The FTSE 100 of the U.K. declined 0.66 percent and the SMI of Switzerland finished lower by 0.85 percent.

In Frankfurt, drug maker Merck KgaA dipped 0.25 percent after it said it firmly believes it will meet the objectives set for 2018. The company said it has focused pharmaceutical pipeline and continuously developed it further.

Deutsche Bank surrendered 3.12 percent, after the U.S. SEC announced that the lender has agreed to pay a $9.5 million penalty for failing to properly safeguard material nonpublic information generated by its research analysts. Commerzbank also forfeited 4.20 percent.

Volkswagen decreased 1.33 percent and Daimler fell 1.53 percent. BMW also finished lower by 1.56 percent.

In Paris, Casino Group reported 2.9 percent sales quarter on an organic basis for its third quarter. Same store sales were up 1.7 percent. The stock dropped 2.11 percent.

BNP Paribas dropped 2.90 percent and Credit Agricole weakened by 3.22 percent. Societe Generale also finished down by 3.04 percent.

Peugeot fell 2.27 percent and Renault lost 1.89 percent.

In London, Unilever declined 3.53 percent after it said its third-quarter total turnover were 13.4 billion euros, down 0.1 percent due to a negative currency impact. Sales increased by 3.4% at constant exchange rates, while underlying sales growth was 3.2 percent.

Meanwhile, U.K. supermarket chain Tesco announced that it has pulled dozens of household products supplied by Unilever from its online shopping site over pricing and a weaker pound. Tesco decreased 3.03 percent.

Standard Life weakened by 5.07 percent after it was downgraded by Barclays to "Underweight" from "Equal weight."

Mining stocks were under pressure due to the weak Chinese trade report. Anglo American dropped 4.80 percent and Rio Tinto fell 4.86 percent. BHP Billiton declined 4.40 percent and Antofagasta lost 3.05 percent.

German consumer price inflation accelerated to a 16-month high in September, final data from Destatis showed Thursday. Consumer prices advanced 0.7 percent year-on-year in September, in line with flash estimate and faster than the 0.4 percent increase seen in prior month. The latest inflation figure was the highest since May 2015, when it was at the same level.

House prices in the United Kingdom picked up steam in September, the latest survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors showed on Thursday with an index score of +17. That's up from +13 in August and the three-year low of +5 in July. That reading immediately followed the Brexit vote and capped five straight months of decline.

First-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits held steady in the week ended October 8th, the Labor Department revealed in a report on Thursday. The Labor Department said initial jobless claims came in at 246,000, unchanged from the previous week's revised level.

Economists had expected jobless claims to climb to 254,000 from the 249,000 originally reported for the previous week.

Import prices in the U.S. saw a modest uptick in the month of September, according to a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday. The report said import prices inched up by 0.1 percent in September after falling by 0.2 percent in August. The uptick in prices matched economist estimates.

The Labor Department also said export prices rose by 0.3 percent in September following a 0.8 percent drop in August. Export prices had been expected to edge up by 0.1 percent.