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European stocks close lower; HSBC gains 4% on earnings beat; Lufthansa falls

The HSBC logo outside a branch of the bank on Oct. 24, 2023 in London, England.
Matt Cardy | Getty Images News | Getty Images

This was CNBC's live blog covering European markets.

European markets closed lower Tuesday, as traders in the region continued to digest the latest slew of earnings reports and looked ahead to fresh corporate results stateside.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 fell 0.59%, extending losses through the afternoon as most sectors dropped into the red. Banks and mining stocks remained slightly higher, while travel and leisure stocks slipped 1.62%.

HBSC's London-listed shares added 3.3% after the bank issued a third-quarter earnings report that beat analyst estimates and announced that it will repurchase up to $3 billion in shares.

Shares of Novartis lost 4.7%, despite the company raising its full-year guidance after reporting an uptick in third-quarter sales.

CEO Vas Narasimhan told CNBC Tuesday he was confident the company can retain "consistent growth" by focusing on its range of around 15 blockbuster drugs, even as it steers clear of the GLP-1 weight loss drug market.

Tuesday saw a deluge of other earnings, including from Adidas, Lufthansa, Santander and BP. On the data front, Germany's GfK consumer confidence survey pointed to an uptick in sentiment going into November.

Investors are meanwhile gearing up for a range of possible tax rises in the U.K. Labour government's Wednesday budget.

Asia-Pacific markets traded mixed on Tuesday, while Wall Street indexes were little-changed ahead of a slate of mega-cap technology earnings this week, including Meta Platforms and Microsoft on Wednesday and Apple on Thursday.

Europe stocks close lower

European stock markets stumbled Tuesday, with the regional Stoxx 600 index wiping out its gains at the start of the week to close 0.58% lower.

The U.K.'s FTSE 100 fell 0.8% ahead of the country's budget announcement Wednesday, while France's CAC 40 and Germany's DAX declined 0.6% and 0.25%, respectively.

— Jenni Reid

Travel stocks, Lufthansa fall as sector faces headwinds

An Airbus A340-300 and an Airbus A 321-100 belonging to Lufthansa are parked on the airport apron.
Helmut Fricke | Picture Alliance | Getty Images
An Airbus A340-300 and an Airbus A 321-100 belonging to Lufthansa are parked on the airport apron.

Travel stocks led losses among European sectors in late deals, down 1.5%, with shares of German airline Lufthansa down 4.7%.

The flag carrier on Tuesday reported a 9% year-on-year fall in third-quarter profit and said its earnings position had "deteriorated significantly" across the first nine months of 2024. It said declines were due to price pressures due to higher capacity across the market, various strikes across its group, higher fees and staff costs and delayed aircraft deliveries.

Analysts at Deutsche Bank said it was a "reasonable" update and noted a forecast for a strong demand environment for the rest of winter.

— Jenni Reid

Gold hits fresh record high

Gold futures scaled to a fresh intraday high on Tuesday, reaching $2,783.10 per ounce.

The precious metal has been on a tear recently, soaring more than 4% over the past month. Over the past three months, it's up 17%.

— Fred Imbert

Stocks open lower Tuesday

U.S. stocks began Tuesday's trading session in the red.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 161 points, or 0.4%.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite fell 0.3% each.

— Hakyung Kim

UK's FTSE dips ahead of Wednesday's budget announcement

The U.K.'s FTSE 100 slipped into the red, dipping by 0.29%, as anticipation builds around a range of possible tax rises featuring in the Labour government's Wednesday budget.

The index was at 8,262 at 1:10 p.m. London time.

Sterling rose slightly, meanwhile, trading at $1.2978.

— Karen Gilchrist

Stocks on the move: Straumann down 10%, HSBC up 4.5%

Shares of Swiss dental implants maker Straumann fell more than 10% on Tuesday as lackluster growth in the key U.S. market weighed on the company's third-quarter earnings results.

On the other end, HBSC's London-listed shares added 4.5% after it issued a third-quarter earnings report that beat analyst estimates and announced that it will repurchase up to $3 billion in shares.

— Karen Gilchrist

Santander profits rise in third-quarter, UK results delayed

A Santander office building in London.
Luke MacGregor | Bloomberg via Getty Images
A Santander office building in London.

Spain's Santander bank reported record net profit in the third quarter driven by a strong performance in its retail business.

The company's net profit rose 12% year-on-year to 3.25 billion euros ($3.52 billion) versus the 3.1 billion euros forecast by analysts polled by Reuters.

Santander UK, which publishes its results separately, said Monday that it was delaying the release as it assesses the impact of a London court ruling last week on motor finance brokers.

Shares were down 3.4% by 10.00 a.m. London time.

— Karen Gilchrist

German consumer confidence shows signs of recovery

Shoppers at the Alexanderplatz in Berlin, Germany, on Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024.
Krisztian Bocsi | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Shoppers at the Alexanderplatz in Berlin, Germany, on Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024.

German consumer confidence is set to improve into November and reach its highest level since April 2022 on improving sentiment over household income prospects, fresh survey data showed Tuesday.

The GfK consumer climate index will rise to -18.3 points going into November, ahead of the -20.5 expected by analysts polled by Reuters, and above the slightly revised -21.0 of the previous months.

The survey points to further recovery going into November even as the German economy remains under pressure. The country's economic forecast was cut by the International Monetary Fund last week.

— Karen Gilchrist

BP third-quarter profit falls to a near four-year low

The BP logo is displayed outside a petrol station near Warminster in Wiltshire, England, on Aug. 15, 2022.
Matt Cardy | Getty Images News | Getty Images
The BP logo is displayed outside a petrol station near Warminster in Wiltshire, England, on Aug. 15, 2022.

British oil giant BP on Tuesday reported its weakest quarterly earnings in nearly four years, citing lower refining margins and a weak oil trading result.

The energy company posted underlying replacement cost profit, used as a proxy for net profit, of $2.3 billion for the July-September period. That beat analyst expectations of $2.1 billion, according to an LSEG-compiled consensus, but reflected a sharp drop from a year earlier.

Shares of London-listed BP dipped around 0.8% during morning deals.

Read the full story here.

— Sam Meredith

Lufthansa's third-quarter operating profit dips 9%

A Lufthansa Airbus A380 aircraft stands at the gate at the airport prior to departure for Boston. The world's largest passenger aircraft is taking off again after three years on regular scheduled service from Munich to Boston. 
1258353212 | Picture Alliance | Getty Images
A Lufthansa Airbus A380 aircraft stands at the gate at the airport prior to departure for Boston. The world's largest passenger aircraft is taking off again after three years on regular scheduled service from Munich to Boston. 

German group Lufthansa posted a 9% year-on-year drop in adjusted operating profit for the third quarter – seasonally a strong period for airline carriers, which includes the high-traffic months of summer vacation in the West.

Lufthansa reported adjusted earnings before interest and taxes of 1.34 billion euros ($1.45 billion) over July-September, in line with the expectations of analysts polled by Reuters. Net profit was down 8% year on year to nearly 1.1 billion euros.

The airline said its third-quarter performance was affected by "aircraft delivery delays and punctuality issues at its hubs" and that it has a "turnaround program in place to address challenges."

Ruxandra Iordache

European markets open higher

European markets opened higher Tuesday as traders in the region digested the latest slew of earnings reports.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 was up 0.38% in opening trade, with all major bourses and most sectors in the green. Banks added 0.77% while mining stocks dipped 0.4%.

The U.K.'s FTSE 100 index added 0.25% to 8,307, Germany's DAX rose 0.47% to 19,621, France's CAC rose 0.61% to 7,602 and Italy's FTSE MIB rose 0.51% to 34,196.

— Karen Gilchrist

Novartis CEO says blockbuster drugs to drive 'consistent growth,' with U.S. market in focus

Novartis CEO Vas Narasimhan told CNBC on Tuesday that he was confident the company can retain "consistent growth" by focusing on its range of around 15 blockbuster drugs, even as it steers clear of the GLP-1 weight loss drug market.

"We have the potential to get to top five by the end of the decade," Narasimhan told "Squawk Box Europe." The comments came after the company raised its full-year guidance following strong third-quarter results.

Looking ahead to next week's U.S. presidential election, he said the pharmaceutical industry was urging the "right fixes" from the next administration, regardless of the winner, to ensure legislatures do not "penalize certain types of medication." It comes as drug prices have come under pressure from U.S. regulators.

— Karen Gilchrist

Reeves' budget to be driven by tax rises, Deloitte UK says

Amanda Tickel, head of tax and trade policy at  Deloitte UK, weighs in on Finance Minister Rachel Reeves' upcoming U.K. budget, saying that she expects the vast majority of the spending gap to be plugged with tax rises. 

Around £35 billion ($45 billion) of the government's reported £40 billion funding hole will be filled with increased levies, such as payroll taxes for businesses, capital gains tax and inheritance tax, Tickel suggested.

— Karen Gilchrist

Adidas sales and operating profit rises in the third quarter

Adidas shoes are displayed at a DSW store on January 31, 2024 in Novato, California. 
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images
Adidas shoes are displayed at a DSW store on January 31, 2024 in Novato, California. 

Adidas reported an uptick in sales and operating profit in its third-quarter results on Tuesday, as the company continued to offload the remaining Yeezy products from its collaboration with musician Ye.

The sportswear giant said sales were up 10% in currency-neutral terms, driven by particular growth in the European and Latin American markets. North America sales dipped 7% in the third quarter, due solely to Adidas' "significantly smaller Yeezy business."

Overall sales rose 7% in euro terms to 6.4 billion euros ($6.9 billion), up from 5.9 billion euros in the same period of last year. Operating profit came in at 598 million euros versus 409 million euros in the third quarter 2023.

— Karen Gilchrist

Novartis sales rise 10% in third quarter, raises guidance

Signage for Novartis AG at a building in the company's headquarters campus in Basel, Switzerland, on Monday, Jan. 8, 2023. 
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Signage for Novartis AG at a building in the company's headquarters campus in Basel, Switzerland, on Monday, Jan. 8, 2023. 

Novartis reported 10% sales growth and 20% core operating income growth in its third-quarter results Tuesday, prompting the Swiss pharmaceutical company to raise its full-year guidance.

Net sales came in at $12.8 billion and core operating income was $5.15 billion in the three months to October. The company said it now sees net sales growing in the low-double digits for the full year.

The company pointed to "important innovation milestones," including in the firm's early breast cancer and nephropathy treatments, as having helped drive the revised outlook.

— Karen Gilchrist

CNBC Pro: Alibaba and more: Fund manager gets bullish on 3 China tech stocks — expecting one to double

Shares of e-commerce giants in China look attractive as Beijing attempts to stimulate domestic consumption, according to investor Jason Hsu.

Hsu, founder and chairman of Rayliant Global Advisors, revealed three of his top picks and one he is more cautious about due to company-specific factors.

Hsu said if signs of consumption growth return to China, one of the stocks could double from current levels.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Ganesh Rao

HSBC beats third-quarter earnings expectations, announces additional $3 billion share buyback

A view of the logo of HSBC bank on a wall outside a branch in Mexico City, Mexico June 14, 2024. 
Henry Romero | Reuters
A view of the logo of HSBC bank on a wall outside a branch in Mexico City, Mexico June 14, 2024. 

Europe's largest lender HSBC on Tuesday reported third-quarter earnings that beat analysts' expectations, boosted by strong revenue growth, as it embarks on a major restructuring to balance its operations in China and the West.

HSBC's pre-tax profit rose 10% compared with the $7.7 billion posted a year ago. The company's quarterly revenue grew 5% to $17 billion from the $16.2 billion that was reported a year ago, while after-tax profit gained $500 million from last year to $6.7 billion.

Shares of HSBC traded 2.24% higher.

—Anniek Bao, Lee Ying Shan

CNBC Pro: Investing in Japan after the elections? The pros share their take

Japan's stock market rallied on Monday as the Yen plummeted to a three-month low following news that Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's ruling coalition had lost a majority in the nation's parliamentary election.

Such a phenomenon raises uncertainties as "we may not know how this new government is going to look like, who the potential coalition partners (are and what the) coalition agreements are going to be," Izumi Devalier, chief Japan economist at Bank of America..

The pros lay out areas of concern - and opportunities they see - in Japan going forward.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Amala Balakrishner

European markets: Here are the opening calls

European markets are expected to open in flat to lower territory Tuesday.

The U.K.'s FTSE 100 index is expected to open 10 points lower at 8,283, Germany's DAX down 25 points at 19,501, France's CAC up 1 point at 7,564 and Italy's FTSE MIB up 1 point at 34,819, according to data from IG.

Earnings are set to come from Adidas, Lufthansa, Novartis, Santander and BP, among others. Data releases of note include Germany's GfK consumer confidence figures.

— Holly Ellyatt

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