European Markets Finished Mostly To The Downside

(RTTNews) - The majority of the European markets ended Thursday's session in negative territory. The markets were up in early trade, after the positive performance of the Asian markets and some better than expected Chinese manufacturing data.

As the focus of investors shifted back towards the struggles of the global economy and weakness in commodities, the markets slipped into the red in the afternoon. Weaker than expected U.S. manufacturing data contributed to the weakness in late trade.

The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks decreased 1.02 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, lost 0.35 percent.

The DAX of Germany dropped 1.57 percent and the CAC 40 of France fell 0.65 percent. The FTSE of the U.K. gained 0.18 percent, but the SMI of Switzerland finished lower by 0.03 percent.

In Frankfurt, BASF dropped 2.72 percent. The company completed the previously announced sale of its pharma custom synthesis business and parts of its active pharmaceutical ingredients business to Siegfried Holding in a deal valued at 270 million euros.

Deutsche Boerse climbed 1.10 percent after a positive broker recommendation.

Bayer trimmed the targeted gross proceeds and price range for the issuance of the shares of Covestro AG, ahead of the planned stock market listing of the polymer company. The stock fell 1.57 percent.

Daimler decreased 0.62 percent. The auto giant said that its Supervisory Board proposed at the Annual Shareholders' Meeting that Manfred Bischoff be reelected to the Supervisory Board for a further period of office.

RWE declined 3.81 percent and E.ON weakened by 2.62 percent.

In Paris, oil field services provider Technip leaped 2.95 percent, after announcing a contract award.

Orange dropped 2.40 percent, after it announced a reorganisation.

Kering decreased 2.47 percent and LVMH lost 1.61 percent.

In London, Tullow Oil surged 9.64 percent. The company and its lending banks have completed the routine six-monthly Reserve Based Lend redetermination process and available debt capacity remains unchanged at $3.7 billion.

Johnson Matthey gained 0.82 percent, after it completed the sale of its Alfa Aesar Research Chemicals business to Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. for 256 million pounds in cash.

Repsol, which agreed to sell part of its piped-gas business, gained 3.65 percent in Madrid.

Aryzta jumped 4.68 percent in Zurich on a broker upgrade.

Altice, which announced the sale of shares for the acquisition of Cablevision Systems Corp., sank 9.32 percent in Amsterdam.

Eurozone manufacturing activity grew at a slower pace as estimated in September, final data from Markit showed Thursday. The manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index fell to a five-month low of 52 in September from 52.3 in August. The reading came in line with flash estimate.

Germany's manufacturing sector expanded less than initially estimated in September, survey data from Markit showed Thursday. The final Markit/BME manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index dropped to 52.3 in September from 53.3 in August. The flash score was 52.5.

The French manufacturing sector returned to growth at a faster than estimated pace in September, final data from Markit showed Thursday. The manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index came in at 50.6, up from 48.3 in August. It was above the flash estimate of 50.4.

British factory activity expanded at the weakest pace in three months in September, suggesting minimal support to the economy from manufacturing.

The seasonally adjusted Purchasing Managers' Index fell slightly to 51.5 in September from 51.6 in August, which was revised up from 51.5, survey figures from the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply and Markit Economics showed Thursday. Economists had forecast the index to fall to 51.3.

China's manufacturing conditions deteriorated the most in six-and-a-half years in September as orders declined sharply on weak foreign demand, results of a private sector survey revealed Thursday.

The final manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index dropped to 47.2 in September from 47.3 in August, survey data from the Caixin Insight Group and Markit showed. That was the lowest reading since March 2009. The health of the sector has weakened in each of the past seven months. The final reading was above the flash score of 47.

Meanwhile, the official manufacturing PMI rose moderately to 49.8 in September from 49.7 in August, reflecting marginal improvement in production and new orders.

With tomorrow's closely watched monthly jobs report looming, the Labor Department released a report on Thursday showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits rose by more than expected in the week ended September 26th.

The report said initial jobless claims climbed to 277,000, an increase of 10,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 267,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to edge up to 271,000.

Partly reflecting concerns about the global economy and customer confidence, the Institute for Supply Management released a report on Thursday showing that its reading on activity in the U.S. manufacturing sector fell to a two-year low in September.

The ISM said its purchasing managers index dropped to 50.2 in September from 51.1 in August, although a reading above 50 indicates growth in the sector. Economists had expected the index to dip to 50.5.

With the bigger than expected decrease, the manufacturing index fell to its lowest level since hitting 50.1 in May of 2013.

Construction spending in the U.S. increased by slightly more than expected in the month of August, according to a report released by the Commerce Department on Thursday.

The report said construction spending climbed 0.7 percent to an annual rate of $1.086 trillion in August from the revised July estimate of $1.079 trillion. Economists had expected spending to rise by 0.6 percent.