European stock markets are expected to weaken at the open Friday, weighed by disappointing results from U.S. tech giants Apple and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), bucking the recent positive trend of corporate results.
At 2:05 AM ET (0605 GMT), the DAX futures contract in Germany traded 0.6% lower, CAC 40 futures in France dropped 0.5% and the FTSE 100 futures contract in the U.K. fell 0.4%.
European stocks are set for strong gains in October, boosted by a swathe of positive earnings, but the week is set to end on a negative note after weaker than expected quarterly earnings from both Apple and Amazon raised fears about the impact of global supply chain issues coming into the holiday season.
Apple, in particular, noted that supply chain problems cost it $6 billion in sales during the company’s fiscal fourth quarter, and Chief Executive Tim Cook said the impact will be even worse during the current holiday sales quarter.
The earnings season continues in Europe Friday, with BNP Paribas in the spotlight after the French bank, the largest in Europe, launched a share buyback program for a maximum total of 900 million euros ($1 billion) after posting a 79% jump in equities trading in the quarter.
German carmaker Daimler reported a higher quarterly net profit despite the global semiconductor chip shortage, as it focused on higher-margin cars and cost cutting.
Air France KLM posted a profit of almost 800 million euros in the third quarter, after a loss in the same period in 2020, beating the Franco-Dutch airline group’s own expectations, as passenger numbers almost doubled thanks to easing coronavirus travel curbs.
The FTSE MIB climbed down by 0.24% to 26,820.20. In the cash markets, the DAX Germany was trading down by 0.19% to 15,667.65. CAC 40 in France fell by 0.18% to 6,792.37 while the FTSE 100 in the U.K. were down by 0.24% to 7,231.35. ,at the time of writing.
