European Confidence Up; Soitec Surges 22%

Mayank Mehta
23 Jun, 2009
New York City

The benchmark indexes in Europe closed mixed. German economic growth rate was revised lower and jobless rate revised higher for 2010. French business and German consumer confidence are on the upswing. Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank will pay a total of $1.73 billion in a settlement to Huntsman Corp.

[R]6:00 PM Frankfurt, Paris; 1:00 PM New York – The benchmark indexes in Europe closed mixed with a downward bias. German economic growth rate was revised lower and jobless rate revised higher for 2010. French business confidence and German consumer confidence is on the upswing. Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank will pay a total of $1.73 billion in a settlement to Huntsman Corp.[/R]

The economic institute Ifo based in Germany lowered its estimate for the German economy in 2010. The revised estimates calls for a contraction of 0.3% from its earlier estimate at the beginning of the year of 0.2% decline in 2010.

The economic research organization also predicted 4.33 people without jobs compared to 3.6 million this year.

Separately, RWI institute lowered its estimate of economic growth to 0.2% in 2010. A private research report suggested that German consumer confidence for July increased.

French household expenditures of manufactured goods declined 0.2% after increasing 0.5% in April. Also, the survey of French business leaders showed an increase in confidence in June, third monthly increase in a row but still below its long term average.

Gainers & Losers

Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank agreed to pay $316 million each to Huntsman Corp over alleged interference in merger plans of the company. Huntsman was seeking $8 billion in punitive damages in Texas court and asked for $4.6 billion in damages.

The banks agreed to pay a total of $1.73 billion of which $316 million will be in cash from each bank and $550 million is in senior debt financing to be paid over seven years.

Credit Suisse 1.8% to Sfr 45.50 and Deutsche Bank decreased 0.37% to 40.30 euros.

Bob Mobile AG surged 13.1% to 4.31 euros after it proposed dividend of 1 euro cent per share. The animation and entertainment products maker reported 2008 sales of 12.6 million euros and net income of 1.14 million euros.

Praktiker AG increased 3.1% to 6.05 euros after the company ended its short work week at German retail stores and said that sales increased in May.

Suedzucker AG increased 1.4% to 15.31 euros after the company guided operating profit in fiscal 2010 of 400 million euros and debt will decline from 1.6 billion euros to between 1.1 billion and 1.2 billion euros on revenue outlook of 5.9 billion euros.

Carrefour SA increased 3.6% to 30.90 after Le Figaro reported that the company is looking to reduce cost by 2 billion euros by 2012.

Soitec SA soared 22% to 4.90 euros after it lifted its first quarter revenues growth of 20% on a sequential basis and expects further improvement in the second quarter. The company’s silicon on insulator wafer is used by Sony and Microsoft for their game consoles.

DAX Index Movers

Bayer AG led the decliners in the DAX index of 1.24% followed by losses in Commerzbank AG of 1.03%, in Siemens AG of 1.01%, in Muenchener Rueckversicherungs-Gesellschaft AG of 0.67%, in SAP AG of 0.55%.

Salzgitter AG led gainers in the DAX index with a rise of 4.55%, followed by increase in Daimler AG of 3.77%, in Hannover Rueckversicherung AG of 3.28%, in E.ON AG of 2.66%, in K+S AG of 2.53%.

CAC-40 Index Movers

STMicroelectronics N.V. led the decliners in the CAC-40 index of 4.21% followed by losses in Credit Agricole SA of 3.79%, in Vallourec SA of 1.96%, in Schneider Electric SA of 1.84%, in Air France-KLM 1.68%.

Bouygues SA gainers in the CAC-40 index with a rise of 3.73% followed by gains in Carrefour SA of 3.60%, in Essilor International SA of 2.13%, in L''Oreal SA of 1.75%, in Unibail-Rodamco SA of 1.15%.

FTSE 100 Index Movers

Of the stocks in the FTSE 100 index, 51 increased, 49 declined and 2 were unchanged.

Legal & General Group Plc decliners in the FTSE 100 index with a loss of 7.87% followed by losses in Lloyds Banking Group plc of 4.20%, in Standard Chartered PLC of 3.40%, in Thomas Cook Group plc of 3.38% and in Wolseley PLC of 3.18%.

TUI Travel PLC led gainers in the FTSE 100 index with a rise of 3.89% followed by increase in Antofagasta plc of 3.87%, in Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation PLC of 3.68%, in Thomson Reuters PLC of 3.62%, in British Sky Broadcasting Group plc of 3.13%.

In London FTSE 100 Index closed lower 4.03 or 0.10% to 4,230.02, in Paris CAC 40 Index decreased 6.43 or 0.21% to close at 3,116.82 and in Frankfurt DAX index higher 13.75 or 0.29% to close at 4,707.15. In Zurich trading SMI increased 10.94 or 0.21% to close at 5,321.31.

Europe Markets Review

In London FTSE 100 Index closed lower 4.03 or 0.10% to 4,230.02, in Paris CAC 40 Index decreased 6.43 or 0.21% to close at 3,116.82 and in Frankfurt DAX index higher 13.75 or 0.29% to close at 4,707.15. In Zurich trading SMI increased 10.94 or 0.21% to close at 5,321.31.