European Retail Sales Fall; VW Sales Up 6%

123jump.com Staff
03 Jul, 2009
New York City

European markets were nearly unchanged. European retail sales index decreased 0.4% in May. Volkswagen June sales increased 6% and estimated world automobile sales to fall 16% to 46 million. Lower house of German parliament passed a bill to separate toxic debt from the state controlled banks.

[R]8:00 PM Frankfurt, Paris; 2:00 PM New York – European markets were nearly unchanged. European retail sales index decreased 0.4% in May. Volkswagen June sales increased 6% and estimated world automobile sales to fall 16% to 46 million. Lower house of German parliament passed a bill to separate toxic debt from the state controlled banks.[/R]

In May retail trade sales index decreased 0.4% from April in the euro area of 16 nations and dropped 0.5% in the wider EU27 nations region. The retail index increased 0.1% and 0.3% in the regions respectively.

Compared to the last year the index decreased 3.3% in the euro are and 3.1% in the EU27 region.

Gainers & Losers

Electricite de France SA dropped 4.5% to 31.97 after the company launched its 110 billion yen Samurai bonds offering. The London Times also reported that as many as one third of French nuclear power plants operated by the company are shut because of the recent heat wave.

Banks in Germany increased after the lower house of parliament voted in favor of eliminating the toxic debt from the state controlled banks.

Deutsche Bank AG increased 1.7% to 42.70 euros and Commerzbank added 2.9% to 5.06 euros.

Banco Espirito Santo SA increased 5.4% to 4.10 euros after it indicated that second quarter earnings will be better than in the first quarter to be released on July 28.

Volkswagen AG increased 2.2% to 233.69 euros after the company chief at an industry gathering said that sale in June increased 6%. Unit sales in the first six months declined 5.1% as compared to a fall of worldwide sales of 18%. Global car sales are estimated to drop 16% to 47 million in the current year from 56 million in 2008.

The auto maker also guided lower earnings compared to 2008 and did not give any specific details.

Lowered rating of Christian Dior SA dragged the stock down 0.9% to 52.38 euros and higher revision lifted Scor SE by 4.6% to 15.24.

Air France-KLM Group declined 0.8% to 8.64 euros after British Air grounded planes and cut its capital expenditure plan. Les Echos noted that according to the insurer AXA executive the compensation to air crash victims are likely to be higher than 67.5 million euros.

Europe Markets Review

In London FTSE 100 Index closed higher 2.01 or 0.05% to 4,236.28, in Paris CAC 40 Index increased 3.10 or 0.10% to close at 3,119.51 and in Frankfurt DAX index lower 10.18 or 0.22% to close at 4,708.21. In Zurich trading SMI decreased 16.72 or 0.13% to close at 5,338.51.

DAX Index Movers

K+S AG led decliners in the DAX index of 2.20% followed by losses in Metro AG of 2.16%, in Man SE of 1.52%, in E.On AG of 1.50%, in Salzgitter AG of 1.48%.

Commerzbank AG led gainers in the DAX index with a rise of 3.27% followed by increase in Deutsche Bank AG of 2.06%, in Volkswagen AG of 2.06%, in Deutsche Post AG of 0.75%, in Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA of 0.65%.

CAC-40 Index Movers

Electricite de Strasbourg SA led the decliners in the CAC-40 index of 4.50% followed by losses in Vallourec SA of 1.85%, in Renault SA of 1.74%, in ING Prime Rate Trust of 1.47%, in Pernod Ricard SA of 1.45%.

Dexia SA led gainers in the CAC-40 index with a rise of 2.92% followed by gains in Unibail-Rodamco SA of 2.59%, in Danone SA of 2.32%, in BNP Paribas SA of 1.98%, in Bouygues SA of 1.95%.

FTSE 100 Index Movers

Of the stocks in the FTSE 100 index, 47 increased, 51 declined and 4 were unchanged.

Friends Provident plc decliners in the FTSE 100 index with a loss of 6.73% followed by losses in Land Securities Group plc of 3.90%, in Old Mutual plc of 3.39%, in Fresnillo Plc of 2.63%, in Balfour Beatty plc of 2.51%.

British Airways Plc led gainers in the FTSE 100 index with a rise of 5.46% followed by increase in Reed Elsevier plc of 3.92%, in Barclays PLC of 2.77%, in Lloyds Banking Group plc of 2.43%, in The Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc 2.34%.