European Markets Without Clear Direction: Pause in Record Chase

In a trading session without a clear direction, European stock markets developed differently on Tuesday. The EuroStoxx 50 was unable to surpass the multi-year high reached on Friday, edging down marginally by 0.06 percent. The exchanges in London and Frankfurt recorded slight losses, whereas the indices in Paris, Zurich, and Madrid posted gains. Overall, stock prices moved at a rather unspectacular level. Andreas Lipkow, market expert, interpreted the market situation as a welcome breathing space after the recent price increases. The restraint was also facilitated by the absence of significant economic data on Tuesday and the lack of directional comments from leading central banks. The Cac 40 in France managed to score with a rise of 0.34 percent, whereas the British FTSE 100 had a slight decline of 0.12 percent. The focus was particularly on chemical companies, with Air Liquide's stock able to record a strong price gain of 8 percent following positive business prospects for the current year. CEO Francois Jackow announced working on further margin improvement, which was well received by investors. In the financial sector, Barclays was able to achieve impressive gains, driven by the announcement of extensive cost savings and a pleasing dividend and share buyback strategy for the coming years. Positive signals also came from Carrefour, whose financial statements showed good results and were positively assessed by analysts at JPMorgan. This led to a stock increase of 2.5 percent. On the other hand, there was BHP Group, whose business figures held no surprises for the market according to an analysis by Berenberg and met expectations, resulting in a 3 percent decline in its shares and overall weighed down the commodities sector.