LONDON – European stock markets edged lower on Tuesday as investors awaited the U.S. government’s response to the Iran peace plan and reacted to earnings reports from several regional companies.
pan-european Stocks 600 The stock fell 0.1% in the opening hours as crude oil prices rose in early trading.
british FTSE100 As of 8:10 a.m. ET in London, the index was down 0.1%, with Germany’s dachshund France, down 0.2% CAC40 It fell by 0.3%. italian FTSE MIB However, it rose by 0.5%.
The source of revenue is Novartis, airbus, blood pressure and barclays on tuesday.
Barclays shares fell 2.7% after the British lender revealed it had taken a 200 million pound ($270 million) private credit hit due to its exposure to troubled real estate lender Market Financial Solutions.
The British lender on Tuesday reported first-quarter pre-tax profits of 2.81 billion pounds, up 3% from 2.72 billion pounds in the same period a year earlier. The CET1 ratio was 14.1%. The company also announced a £500m share buyback, following the completion of an ongoing £1bn program. Overall, Barclays plans to return more than £15bn of capital to shareholders between 2026 and 2028.
Investors will appreciate news that US President Donald Trump and his national security team have discussed Iran’s proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz once the US lifts its blockade and the war ends, White House press secretary Caroline Levitt confirmed on Monday.
The proposal would postpone negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program to a later date, Axios and the Associated Press reported earlier in the session.
It is unclear whether President Trump, who has vowed not to lift the blockade until the deal with Iran is “100% complete,” has accepted the offer that reportedly would end the two-month war. Oil prices rose slightly overnight as uncertainty remained over the outcome of the war.
In corporate news, German biotech giant Bayer went to the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday to end thousands of lawsuits against its herbicide Roundup.
Bayer acquired Roundup maker Monsanto for $63 billion in 2018, but has faced lawsuits in the years since the deal closed amid claims that glyphosate, an ingredient in the herbicide, causes health problems such as cancer.
The justices reportedly split after hearing arguments at Monday’s hearing in which Bayer announced its appeal of a Missouri state court’s $1.25 million judgment against a man who said his diagnosis of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma was due to years of exposure to Roundup.
Activists from the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement gathered outside the courthouse on Monday to protest against Bayer.
Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis announced its first quarter results on Tuesday, with group operating profit down 12% annually to $4.9 billion.
This was lower than the $5.3 billion expected by analysts compiled by LSEG.
British oil major blood pressure announced its first-quarter results on Tuesday, with profits for the quarter more than doubling and exceeding expectations.
Global markets will also turn their attention to central banks this week, with the US Federal Reserve, European Central Bank and Bank of England all scheduled to hold important meetings as the war upends inflation and growth expectations.
Wednesday’s Fed policy decision could be Jerome Powell’s last meeting as chairman before Kevin Warsh is expected to take over in May. The Justice Department decided Friday to drop its criminal investigation into Powell, and Sen. Thom Tillis ended his bid to block Warsh’s confirmation.
The ECB and BoE both announced their latest monetary policy decisions on Thursday, and economists expect the central banks to keep benchmark interest rates unchanged at their respective meetings this month. However, central banks are expected to leave the door open to raising interest rates this year.
— CNBC’s Kevin Breuninger contributed to this market report.
